Three killed in Israeli camp attack
At least three Palestinians were killed and 12 wounded in violent clashes when Israeli troops went into a Gaza refugee camp on the Egyptian border early today.
Palestinians said Israeli forces entered the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border before daybreak and surrounded the house of a Hamas militant.
Palestinians opened fire on the troops and threw hand grenades from the roof of the building, and the Israelis sent in attack helicopters in as reinforcements, they said.
Israeli military officials said the purpose of the mission was to arrest a wanted Palestinian, and there were exchanges of fire at the scene.
Two of the dead were Palestinian militants and one a bystander, hospital officials said, adding that two of the wounded, including a 12 year-old boy, were in critical condition.
The camp is a frequent scene of battles. Israeli soldiers enter often to search for tunnels Israel says the Palestinians use to smuggle arms in under the Egyptian border. The frontier divides the refugee camp between the two countries.
