 GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces clashed with terrorists militants in Gaza on Sunday as tanks moved back into the north of the Strip on an offensive that has continued even as fighting with Lebanese Hizbollah guerillas opened a second front.
The Gaza offensive, aimed at recovering a captured soldier and stopping armed terrorists groups from firing makeshift rockets, has piled pressure on the Palestinian government led by Hamas, which demands a terrorist prisoner swap for the Israeli corporal.
Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers, backed by helicopters with machine guns sending down bursts of fire, moved into farmland near Beit Hanoun, an area often used by terrorists militants for launching rockets. Small groups of terrorists militants opened fire at the Israeli forces, but there was no report of casualties. "There is an army activity in Beit Hanoun. There has been deterrent fire," said one Israeli military source.
Israeli troops had pulled out of the northern Gaza Strip a week earlier after a major raid into the territory, which Israel abandoned in 2005 after a 38-year occupation. |