Israeli forces kill 12 Palestinians in Gaza raid

Israel killed 12 Palestinians yesterday, thrusting deep into Gaza City on a military drive that underscored Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's tough security policy two days before an election.

Dozens of armoured vehicles backed by assault helicopters struck from three directions at a known stronghold of the militant Islamic group Hamas, which has carried out dozens of suicide attacks.

It was the deepest thrust into the Palestinian-ruled city in two years of fighting, and the death toll was the highest in a single day since 16 people were killed in an October raid on Khan Younis.

Palestinian sources said the dead, all aged 18 and older, included seven gunmen and a policeman. Israeli soldiers later shot dead a 13th Gazan, a boy, seven, who was playing in Rafah camp, medics and relatives said. But Israeli military sources said they knew of no such incident.

About 40,000 Palestinians marched at a mass funeral for the 12 men. Some mourners fired in the air. Others vowed revenge.

"We will shed Jewish blood in Jaffa and Tel Aviv," Abdel-Aziz al-Rantisi, a top Hamas official, told reporters.

Ahead of tomorrow's general election, Israel's army clamped a blanket ban on Palestinian travel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, home to 3.5 million Palestinians, for 62 hours ending on Wednesday.

A 74-year-old former general, Sharon is expected to lead his rightist Likud party to victory in tomorrow's general election, campaigning on a platform calling for tough measures against Palestinian militants.

But in remarks foreshadowing US pressure on Sharon to make concessions for peace, Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Switzerland that Israel must offer Palestinians more than a "phony state diced into a thousand different pieces."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Ron Pros-Or responded cautiously, saying only that Powell's statement was "very important" and Israel "would take it into consideration."

Speaking in Davos, Powell urged Israel to do more to "deal with the humanitarian conditions of the Palestinian people," adding "you have to understand that a Palestinian state must be a real state."

In a speech designed to muster support for a tough line against Iraq, Powell said a viable Palestinian state was possible in 2005 so long as Palestinians established a new leadership and Israel built trust.

The 22-member Arab League condemned Israel for the Gaza City raid and Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat accused Sharon of being determined to end the Israeli election campaign "with more Palestinian blood."

An Israeli army spokesman said the incursion into Gaza City's Zaitoun neighbourhood was meant to strike at weapons factories after an Israeli town near the Gaza border came under repeated rocket attack.

But Israel's raid also had an emotional and economic impact. Soldiers threw grenades into a central clothing market, setting some 80 stands on fire, where merchants said losses were significant. The stands had been newly stocked ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha in two weeks.

"The earth was shaking as tanks rolled into the neighbourhood. Helicopters roared overhead. It was a night of war," resident Mohammad al-Yazji told Reuters. He said the explosions scared his children and they cried.

Israel struck just as the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz quoted senior army officials as saying the peak of violence had passed and as Palestinian factions met in Cairo to consider an Egyptian proposal for a one-year unilateral ceasefire.

At the talks in Cairo, Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan said Israel's Gaza operation reflected a need for agreement.

"The Gaza raid confirms that we have to reach an agreement because nothing can protect Gaza or our Palestinian people, except if we agree in spite of the pain and the fall of the martyrs," Hamdan said.

Some Palestinian officials involved in the talks have said attacks could end if Israel guaranteed an end to its premeditated killing of militants. Palestinians accuse Israel of assassinating the militants.

An international peace proposal, drafted by Washington, Moscow, the United Nations and the European Union, will be presented following the Israeli elections in a bid to get Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

At least 1,801 Palestinians and 698 Israelis have been killed since the revolt began in September 2000.