“Israeli” planes, tanks hit Gaza & Jenin, 7 Palestinians killed

Source: Agencies, 21-6-2007
EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip - "Israel" launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the first air strikes since Hamas seized control of the territory last week, killing four Palestinians in the deadliest military action since Hamas militants took control of the coastal strip.
The "Israeli" army claimed that Palestinian fighters have earlier fired at least one makeshift rocket into southern occupied territories. "Israeli" occupation soldiers killed five Palestinians all members of the Popular Resistance Committees` military wing - the Salah al-Din Brigades, as they were repelling an "Israeli" incursion into Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources reported that several other Palestinians were wounded. In the West Bank, two resistance fighters from the Abu Ammar and Al-Quds Brigades were killed in a 7-hour fierce fighting in the Kafardan town west of Jenin, between Palestinian resistance fighters and "Israeli" occupation troops. This came at a time "Israeli" forces continued raiding houses and detaining Palestinians in the West Bank. Witnesses said that an "Israeli" armored force comprising more than 30 armed vehicles penetrated into neighborhoods in the Kafardan town amid heavy exchange of fire with resistance fighters.
Hamas and the allied Popular Resistance Committees said gunmen fired on undercover troops, prompting the army to send six tanks, two armored personnel carriers and a bulldozer to the area.
The army claimed the entrance of the troops had been planned, was not a broad operation, and was meant to counter militant activity, including arms smuggling.
In the West Bank, two Palestinian militants were killed in a predawn shootout with "Israeli" troops on an arrest raid on a house near Jenin, residents said. One was a local commander from the Islamic Jihad militant group and the other a local commander from a violent offshoot of Fatah.
Mahmoud Zahar, the man widely believed to be leading Gaza`s new Hamas rulers, said his group was open to a cease-fire with "Israel" if the army halts its activities there and in the West Bank. He said Hamas was capable of halting the frequent rocket attacks out of Gaza.
"But nobody will be the protector of the `Israeli` border," he told The Associated Press.
In Washington on Tuesday, President Bush and "Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed support for Abbas at a high-profile news conference.
A U.N. agency, meanwhile, warned of general food shortages in Gaza within weeks if the main cargo crossing with "Israel" wasn`t reopened.