MIDDLE EAST: Israeli forces raided the Gaza town of Khan Younis early yesterday with helicopter gunships.
The Israeli forces were backing up a column of tanks. They launched a missile at what they said were gunmen firing at Israeli forces. One gunman and a 15-year-old bystander were killed and others wounded, medics said.
At least two buildings were razed by bulldozers during the raid, and several civilians were injured in the helicopter strike.
The army said the operation was against militants operating in the area following Sunday's killing of a pregnant Jewish settler and her four children. The army said Palestinian gunmen had shot the children dead at point-blank range.
The attack took place during voting in the Likud referendum, generating a tide of opposition to Mr Ariel Sharon's pull-out plan.
Meanwhile, human rights activists have asked Israel's highest court to ban the Israeli military from all use of Palestinian civilians as "human shields".
Israel's Supreme Court barred the practice in 2002 after soldiers forced the neighbour of a suspected militant to knock on his door and deliver an ultimatum to surrender. The militant shot and killed the man.
Mr Marwan Dalal, a lawyer for the Israeli-Arab advocacy group Adalah, said the the current ban was not strong enough because it left some leeway for field commanders to press Palestinian civilians into service if they determined such action would not put them in danger.
Israel says it does not deliberately put civilians in harm's way. It accuses Palestinian militants of routinely using non-combatants for cover.
However, rights activists complained last month that Israeli forces used a 13-year-old Palestinian boy as a "human shield" during rock-throwing protests in the West Bank village of Biddo. An image of the youth tied to the hood of a jeep was caught on camera.
An Israeli police spokesman said the case had been referred to the justice ministry.