By Adel Zaanoun | January 06, 2009
ISRAELI tanks and helicopter gunships went blazing into towns across the Gaza Strip attacking Hamas targets and searching for its leaders as the war death toll passed 580.
Troops fought Islamist militants around the back alleys of Gaza's main city in the heaviest fighting of the 11-day-old offensive to halt Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.
Black smoke covered the districts of Gaza City and the edges of Deir al-Balah and al-Bureij where heavy fighting raged.
Israeli tanks backed by helicopter gunships also rolled into the southern town of Khan Yunis before dawn, to be met by return fire from Hamas and its allies, witnesses said.
Israeli strikes hit two UN-run schools, one crowded with refugees, killing at least five Palestinians, medics and UN officials said.
Two people were killed when an artillery shell slammed into a school in Khan Yunis and three people were killed in an air strike on a school in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, they said.
In the face of the Israeli assault, about 12 Hamas rockets were fired over the border, one reaching 45km inside Israeli territory, the deepest yet, lightly wounding a baby, the army said.
Three civilians and one soldier have been killed by rocket fire inside Israel since the offensive was launched.
ISRAELI tanks and helicopter gunships went blazing into towns across the Gaza Strip attacking Hamas targets and searching for its leaders as the war death toll passed 580.
Troops fought Islamist militants around the back alleys of Gaza's main city in the heaviest fighting of the 11-day-old offensive to halt Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.
Black smoke covered the districts of Gaza City and the edges of Deir al-Balah and al-Bureij where heavy fighting raged.
Israeli tanks backed by helicopter gunships also rolled into the southern town of Khan Yunis before dawn, to be met by return fire from Hamas and its allies, witnesses said.
Israeli strikes hit two UN-run schools, one crowded with refugees, killing at least five Palestinians, medics and UN officials said.
Two people were killed when an artillery shell slammed into a school in Khan Yunis and three people were killed in an air strike on a school in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, they said.
In the face of the Israeli assault, about 12 Hamas rockets were fired over the border, one reaching 45km inside Israeli territory, the deepest yet, lightly wounding a baby, the army said.
Three civilians and one soldier have been killed by rocket fire inside Israel since the offensive was launched.
Source: The Australian
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