Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinians, including a 14-year-old, and wounded dozens more today in a major raid into Gaza days after the first suicide bombing in Israel in nearly six months.
Israeli soldiers also blew up two apartment blocs elsewhere in Gaza, making scores of Palestinians homeless. The incursion into the Deir el-Balah refugee camp triggered the worst violence in Gaza in weeks.
Israeli helicopters fired warning shots and soldiers shot at Palestinians firing anti-tank rockets and hurling petrol bombs. The clashes erupted after troops unearthed a tunnel near a Jewish settlement, a military source said.
Palestinian medics said four Palestinians were killed, including a 14-year-old, his 19-year-old brother and two other 19-year-olds. They said 41 people were wounded. The Israeli source said three Palestinians were shot, but did not give their condition.
In an overnight raid in nearby Khan Younis refugee camp, soldiers blew up twin five-story buildings which Israel said Palestinian militants were using to attack soldiers and Jewish settlers.
Six Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were wounded in the raid.
The operation followed Israeli threats to step up strikes on militants after suicide bombings on two buses claimed by Hamas militants killed 16 people on Tuesday in the city of Beersheba.
In Gaza City, a Palestinian minister announced at a rally this evening that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails had ended an 18-day hunger strike "after 90 per cent of their demands" for better conditions were met.
At the height of the liquids-only fast, nearly 3,000 Palestinians in several prisons were refusing to eat, demanding better conditions and an end to strip searches.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed to press ahead with an Israeli evacuation of troops and some 8,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza enclaves surrounded by 1.3 million Palestinians in 2005. But the latest spiral of violence could complicate his plan.