GAZA, Dec 11 (KUNA) -- Israeli military forces went on the offensive in Gaza Strip on Tuesday launching incursions and targeting Palestinian locations with a hail of gunfire.
Medical sources said three Palestinians were shot dead by special Israeli troops that advanced into the town of Beit Hanoun in the north of the strip. Three Palestinians were also wounded, one critically, when the attacking Israeli forces engaged in a firefight with resistance fighters defending the town.
Elsewhere, witnesses said a large Israeli military force, including elite units, advanced toward the northern fringes of the border town of Rafah early today, targeting Palestinian houses and properties with intensive gunfire. Palestinian residents remained indoor while Israeli snipers took up positions atop buildings in the region. Meanwhile, Israeli troops manning bulldozers ravaged nearby cultivated fields for the Palestinian natives.
Palestinian factions said in statements that the resistance fighters confronted the assaulting force with mortars and RPGs.
Shortly later, a spokesman of the Israeli Army confirmed in a statement, broadcast by Israel Radio, that the regular military forces were engaged in wide-scale military acitivity in the strip.
The forces, engaged in a house-to-house search operation targeting activists, have detained 60 "suspects," the spokesman said.
The regulars have been resisted by Palestinian fighters, shooting with automatic guns, hurling hand-grenades and firing mortars, but non of the soldiers has been hurt in the retalitory action, he added.
Israeli bulldozers, operating in Rafah, have brought down a fuel station, he said. (end) zt.rk