Israeli military tightens grip on Gaza town

Those who arrived in the square were taken by soldiers in trucks to another area of the town and questioned to find out if they were involved in militant activity, said the Israeli army, which took over the town yesterday. Some were released and others were taken for further questioning, it said.

Defiant militants kept up their attacks on southern Israel, firing homemade rockets from elsewhere in Gaza, the army said.

One rocket hit a house in the nearby Israeli town of Sderot, injuring one person, the army said. Hamas militants claimed responsibility for the attack.

Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said the offensive was aimed at crushing the Palestinians’ spirit.

“But we are completely sure this will fail, as all previous campaigns failed … and the Palestinians will remain steadfast,” he said.

Troops moved into Beit Hanoun yesterday because it was a major launching ground for the 800 rockets fired at southern Israel since the beginning of the year, the army said.

Twelve Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, including at least nine militants. A 70-year-old civilian was killed today, as were two militants - including a bodyguard to Haniyeh, who was not in the area at the time, relatives and security officials said.

A female police officer was shot and killed today while she was trying to assist a group of residents, including some gunmen, who holed up in a mosque in the town, security officials said. Israeli troops surrounded the mosque and called on those inside to surrender, the officials said.

The army said it shot an armed person who had approached troops and also shot at a group of militants who prepared to launch a rocket at soldiers.

The raid crippled the town of 50,000, with curfews imposed on some areas, and residents of others too afraid to venture from their homes.

Helicopter gunships on two separate missions sent missiles hurtling into the town early Thursday, but no injuries were reported. About 50 tanks patrolled the town, while other tanks fired dozens of rounds into Beit Hanoun from the other side of the Israeli-Gaza border.

Snipers, meanwhile, took up position on at least a dozen rooftops, while other troops carried out house-to-house searches for weapons and militants.

Militants fought back with small arms, hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and land mines.

Israeli tanks parked on the town’s main streets and bulldozers surrounded them with sand embankments to protect them from rocket fire. Much of the town’s open space had already been razed by the army in previous operations to provide staging areas for tanks and to allow troops better visibility to monitor militant activity.

“We will not allow Beit Hanoun to serve as a launching pad for missile attacks against Israel,” said David Baker, a spokesman for Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.

Other Israeli officials said the takeover of Beit Hanoun was expected to last only a few days and did not signal the start of a wider-scale Gaza offensive.

Yesterday, Israel’s Security Cabinet rejected proposals for a major escalation against rocket squads and arms smuggling operations along the Egypt-Gaza border.

Israel has several reasons not to launch such an offensive now.

Olmert is to meet US president George Bush later this month, and is wary that a major escalation in Gaza could overshadow the trip.

A wider offensive could also harm negotiations for the release of Cpl Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped in June by militants allied with the Palestinians’ ruling Hamas party, and could hinder attempts by moderate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to form a new Palestinian government acceptable to the West.

An escalation could also impede US efforts to improve security and cut down on arms smuggling at the Egypt-Gaza border.