Heavy fighting between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in Gaza City's Zaytoon neighborhood Tuesday killed at least six Palestinians and six Israeli soldiers.  

Two more Palestinians died in an Israeli helicopter missile strike on a car in eastern Gaza, and one Palestinian was killed on Tuesday night near the borders between northern Gaza Strip and Israel.

The Israeli army confirmed the deaths of the soldiers, who were killed when their explosives-laden armored personnel carrier (APC) drove over a roadside bomb planted by militants.

It was the army's heaviest death toll since November 2002, when nine soldiers were killed in an ambush in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

Militants, members and supporters of the Islamic Hamas movement marched through Gaza City streets Tuesday afternoon holding some of the remains of the soldiers.

Some Hamas members said the movement would use the remains as bargaining chips to secure the release of militants held in Israeli jails.

Witnesses said that Hamas was holding parts of the soldiers' heads and one of their legs.

They said that while dozens gathered to look at the body parts, Hamas militants fired in the air "to express their happiness carrying out the attack and killing the six soldiers."

The Israeli army had earlier poured more troops into the area in an attempt to locate and extricate the remains of the soldiers killed in the explosion.

The soldiers conducted house-to-house searches in Zaytoon, while coming under heavy fire.

The army also set up roadblocks, dividing the Gaza Strip into three parts, to prevent Palestinians from entering and leaving the area.

The incursion into Zaytoon was launched to locate workshops used to manufacture makeshift mortars and Qassam rockets fired against Israeli targets inside and outside the Strip, the army said.

The explosives in the APC were to be used to destroy the workshops, but they were set off by the roadside bomb and scattered the vehicle's parts over a large radius.

Both the Islamic Jihad group and the Islamic militant Hamas movement issued leaflets claiming responsibility for destroying the APC. Hamas also released a video showing the vehicle flying in the air after it was hit.

The army incursion, which began shortly after midnight, sparked fierce fighting between the troops and local gunmen, during which at least nine Palestinians were killed and 110 wounded, 10 of them seriously.

The dead included a local Hamas commander, an Islamic Jihad militant and a 10-year-old boy.

Witnesses and media reports said that during the fighting Israeli helicopters fired five missiles at the neighborhood.

The witnesses said the Israeli force was accompanied by a special undercover unit of soldiers disguised as Palestinians, while other soldiers picked out high buildings, broke into them, kept all residents in one apartment and took up positions on the rooftops.

Local radio stations warned the civilian residents in Zaytoon not to mingle with the militants and urged them to stay away or to remain at home and allow the gunmen to do their job.

The APC was hit as the troops were pulling out of the area after destroying five workshops, said the residents

Following the soldiers deaths, Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon cancelled appointments and scheduled a meeting of his security cabinet for Tuesday evening.

As the soldiers were searching for the body parts Tuesday afternoon an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at a car traveling in Gaza City's Shajaiyeh neighborhood, killing two people.

The identities of the two were not immediately known but Israel Radio said the strike was apparently aimed at Hamas militants. 

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2004)