11 militants, most from Hamas, killed as “Israeli” military rolls into central Gaza

Source: AFP, 5-7-2007
GAZA CITY - "Israeli" troops killed 11 Palestinian fighters in fierce clashes on Thursday while ground troops backed by air power pushed into the Gaza Strip, stepping up pressure on the Hamas-run enclave.
"Israeli" troops and tanks rolled across the border into the central Gaza Strip to the outskirts of the Mughazi refugee camp, where they got locked in heavy firefights with Palestinian militants, medical sources and the army said.
The military called in two air strikes during the fighting that raged all day, killing five members of Hamas` armed wing, medics and witnesses said.
Another member of Hamas`s Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades was killed in fighting in the same area.
Around 26 Palestinians were wounded, including five seriously, in the intense clashes about one kilometre (about half a mile) into Gaza, from which "Israel" withdrew all troops and settlers in 2005 after 38 years of occupation.
Several hours later a member Islamic Jihad, was killed by an "Israeli" rocket that witnesses and medics said was fired at a group of people seeking to rescue a wounded person.
An eighth fighter died in fighting in the same area, but his identity was not immediately known, while another three were killed in centre of the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening.
The deaths brought to 5,784 the number of people killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in 2000, most of them Palestinians, according to an AFP tally.
Meanwhile, a cameraman working under fire for Hamas` Al-Aqsa television had both legs amputated. Imad Ghanem, 23, was first hit by a shell and then by two bullets fired into his crumpled body as it lay on the ground, medics said.
The military said the troops and tanks were "operating against terror infrastructure" in the central Gaza Strip and that it was investigating the circumstances of the incident in which the cameraman was shot.
"We identified hitting approximately 10 armed gunmen in two air strikes and exchanges of fire on the ground. Two soldiers were wounded by an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) fired at a bulldozer in the central Gaza Strip and were evacuated," an army spokesman said.
An "Israeli" military source said Hamas television cameramen "cannot be considered as journalists, as they are part of Hamas` armed wing and their films are used for propaganda and intelligence purposes."
"Israeli" troops were also operating in northern Gaza on the outskirts of Beit Hanun, where two militants were wounded overnight. The army said the two were attempting to fire rockets at "Israel".