Israeli tanks and troops have stormed a Gaza Strip refugee camp and killed at least eight Palestinians in clashes, according to Palestinian officials.
The Palestinian officials said a boy (13) was shot dead and about 40 people wounded when gunmen traded fire with Israeli troops and tanks which rolled into Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza under cover of dark.
Officials said a pregnant woman (33) was also killed by falling debris when the army blew up three houses belonging to two suicide bombers and a wanted militant.
It was not immediately clear how the other Palestinians were killed.
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli undercover troops first spread through the camp on foot, marking the way for at least 35 tanks and armoured vehicles which followed with support from helicopter gunships.
Israeli forces also captured a founding member of Hamas,Mohammed Taha, and his two sons. He was thought to be the mostsenior political Hamas leader arrested in Gaza since the Palestinianuprising began in September 2000.
Hamas militants fired home-made rockets on the southern Israeli townof Sderot in retaliation, Israeli policesaid. A Qassam 2 rocket caused no injuries or damage when it landed inan open space but spread panic through the town, a police spokesman said. Two other missiles fell short and crashed into farmland on thePalestinian side of the border.
Meanwhile, a 23-year-old Palestinian man died in Nablus this afternoon, hours after being shot by the Israeli army on his way to work and then kept under arrest.Palestinian medical and security sources said the man was shot on his way to Ramallah where he worked as a house painter.
