Israeli forces kill 11 in Gaza

At least 11 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza City and the southern town of Khan Younis, medical workers have said.

It was their biggest raid in the Gaza Strip since Hamas Islamists took over the territory two weeks ago.

The operation appears to signal that Israel intends to keep strong military pressure on Hamas along with its efforts to isolate the militant group financially and politically.

Local residents in the two battle zones said militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and detonated explosive devices in confrontations with Israeli infantry and armour.

Israeli forces killed three gunmen near Khan Younis and four militants, three civilians - including a 12-year-old boy - and an unidentified man in fighting in Gaza City, medical workers and residents said. More than 45 people were wounded in the raid.

At least three of the dead gunmen belonged to Hamas, which seized Gaza this month after routing forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the secular Fatah faction.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the Israeli incursion was part of a "conspiracy in which Abbas is a participant and which is aimed at pressuring Hamas and the people of Gaza".

Fatah spokesman Jamal Nazzal condemned the raid, accusing Israel of using Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip to try to justify "aggression against Palestinian civilians".

A military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said the army was "operating against terror threats" and that two soldiers were wounded by an anti-tank missile fired at an armoured vehicle.

She said troops shot two armed men in fighting in the Khan Younis area and a tank fired a shell at a gunman in Gaza City's Shejaia neighbourhood.

Despite Hamas rule in the coastal territory, the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators - the US, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - hopes to revive a peace process through Mr Abbas in the occupied West Bank.

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.