At least seven Israeli army tanks and three bulldozers drove on Thursday into the neighborhood of Zaytoon in southern Gaza City and clashed with Palestinian militants, a Palestinian security statement said.
Residents in the area reported that while the Israeli tanks and bulldozers were entering the area, the tanks fired several shells and heavy gunshots were heard around the Palestinian houses.
Eyewitnesses said that they saw four Palestinian ambulances arriving in the area, and carried four injured Palestinians. They also said fierce clashes between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers erupted in the area.
In addition, a Palestinian security statement reported that Israeli tanks and bulldozers supported by attack helicopters raided northern Gaza Strip and drove at least 2 kilometers deep into the Palestinian controlled area.
This incursion into Gaza City and northern Gaza Strip area came after Palestinian militants fired dozens of mortars at Jewish settlements and rockets that landed onto Israel.
No injuries were reported. Islamic Hamas armed wing Izel Dein Al Qassam said in a leaflet that it claims responsibility for firing the mortars and the rockets, adding that it is a first revenge for assassinating their leader Salah Shehada in Gaza on Monday.
Shahad, who was number 1 on Israeli security force's wanted list, was killed together with 14 people, most of them were children, when an Israeli F16 warplane threw a bomb at a civilian building in Gaza City. Palestinian security sources said that the police had arrested five Palestinians accused for being collaborators with the Israeli security intelligence and accused for passing information on the location of Shehada.
(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2002)
