Israel kills six in Gaza, briefly eases grip on town

Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in Gaza yesterday including four militants in air strikes and clashes, rescue workers said, and the army briefly eased its grip on a town at the centre of a major offensive.

One of the gunmen was killed in battles with Israeli soldiers backed by tanks near the northern town of Beit Hanoun, witnesses said. Militants fired anti-tank rockets at troops, they added. One soldier was seriously wounded, the army said.

As darkness fell yesterday, troops began house-to-house searches for militants, local residents said. The violence came a day after Israel killed 17 people, about half of them civilians, including two women acting as human shields between troops and gunmen hiding in a mosque in Beit Hanoun.

Israel's army said it only fired at armed Palestinians. Israel says the operation, one of the biggest since the army and Jewish settlers pulled out of Gaza last year after 38 years of occupation, aims to halt rocket fire at the Jewish state. The violence has scuttled hopes of any resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, already a remote prospect since the Hamas militant group took power in March following elections. Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction.

Among the dead yesterday were two Hamas militants, killed in a missile strike near the Jabalya refugee camp, medical officials said. The army said it was checking the report. Some 14 Palestinians had been wounded in various strikes and clashes, hospital officials added. An 18-year-old civilian wounded by Israeli gunfire earlier yesterday, later died in hospital, medical workers said.

Israeli forces have killed 40 people in the four-day assault, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Beit Hanoun, home to some 30,000 Palestinians, has been under an effective curfew since troops moved in, residents say. Yesterday, soldiers using loudspeakers told residents women had two hours to go out and buy food, witnesses said. An army spokesman said troops had not seized Beit Hanoun. "There are warnings and recommendations to stay off the streets, but there is no official lockdown," he said.

A senior aid worker for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, one of the main assistance providers for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, said Israel had allowed an aid convoy through to the town earlier in the day to distribute basic aid.