31 people dead and more than 130

Gaza sees day of deadly violence


Heavy tanks crashed through the camp on Thursday
The Gaza Strip is counting its dead and injured after one of the darkest days since the Palestinian intifada began four years ago this week.

Israeli tanks swept through Jabaliya refugee camp, sparking off fierce clashes which left 31 people dead and more than 130 wounded across Gaza.

Palestinian civilians and militants and Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers are among the casualties.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has called for a major offensive in Gaza.

He was responding to a request from Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz for a major, open-ended military operation to stop Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli border towns, the latest of which killed two small children in Sderot.

The decision has still to be approved by Mr Sharon's security cabinet, due to meet late on Thursday.

The Palestinian Authority called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to debate "barbaric massacres" by Israeli troops in Gaza.

Tanks in the maze

Correspondents said it was the first time in the past four years of the Palestinian intifada that Israeli troops had reached the heart of the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp.

Maj Gen Dan Harel, the Israeli army commander in Gaza, said the shell was aimed at militants who had attacked an Israeli armoured vehicle, injuring three soldiers. He added that he regretted civilian deaths.

Local people said that at least 17 other Palestinians were killed during the day by Israeli gunfire in the camp, including several militants and a 60-year-old man.

Bulldozers demolished houses, forcing residents to flee, witnesses said.

"A bulldozer entered our living room and demolished half the house," Hussein al-Jamal told the Associated Press news agency. His family fled, along with many of his neighbours.

In other violence on Thursday:


Hamas militants kill an Israeli soldier at an army base near Jabaliya and lose two of their members to return fire

Two Israelis - a female jogger and a soldier - were killed in an ambush which also left two Palestinian gunmen dead. The attack happened on a strip of road connecting the Jewish settlements of Elei Sinai and Dugit

Tough withdrawal

The Gaza Strip has been occupied by Israel since it captured the territory in the 1967 war.

Palestinian rocket attacks are complicating Mr Sharon's plans to end Israel's occupation of Gaza, the BBC's Alan Johnston reports from Gaza.

Militants are keen to portray any eventual Israeli withdrawal as a retreat under fire, and many expect the violence to escalate.

"They [the militants] want to show Israel is running out of Gaza under fire," said Israeli government spokesman Gideon Meir on Thursday.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed grave concern at the escalation of the violence, adding he particularly "mourned the death and injuries of children".

In London, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw described the Middle East conflict as the greatest challenge to international order.

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and the Isaelis call them selves a democricy

What sparked that latest batch of Violence this time? Why did Jewish tanks enter Jabaliya refugee camp?

Originally posted by Wask
What sparked that latest batch of Violence this time? Why did Jewish tanks enter Jabaliya refugee camp?

because the jewish want to keep what land they have stolen
and any chance of palis becoming soverign.


and they are doing this because the palistians are fighting back

Originally posted by bodrul

Originally posted by Wask
What sparked that latest batch of Violence this time? Why did Jewish tanks enter Jabaliya refugee camp?

because the jewish want to keep what land they have stolen
and any chance of palis becoming soverign.


and they are doing this because the palistians are fighting back

I know that but was there a specific action? For example they usual don't drive tanks into camps and kill people unless a bus blew up. Have they decided to do it at random now?

i always thought it was
and the bombing was an excuse to go out and kill 20 times more people

why do people strap bombs to them selves and go in and blow the # out of them.

because Israeli's create them each day by doing that