Israel mounts biggest incursion into Gaza since intifada

Israeli troops killed five Palestinians and wounded at least 40 others when a force of 35 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, bulldozers and four-wheel-drives thrust into the Rafah refugee camp yesterday.

Five helicopter gunships circled overhead, flashing spotlights on to the Yibna neighbourhood, known as an Islamic militants' stronghold. It was believed to be the biggest raid in the Gaza Strip since the intifada broke out two and a half years ago. Those killed were a 15-year-old boy, a policeman and three fighters in their 20s.

Dr Ali Mousa, the director of the local hospital, said the Israelis barred ambulances and medical teams from entering the camp while the fighting was going on. He claimed that some of the dead might have been saved if they had been treated sooner. The hospital operated on 12 of the wounded. Dr Mousa said two of them remained in a critical condition last night.

A sniper shot dead an Israeli army cameraman, Corporal Lior Ziv, 19, who was filming a pitched battle that erupted when Palestinian fighters hit back with anti-tank missiles, automatic weapons and explosives.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian cameraman covering a fire fight in the West Bank town of Nablus. Nazeh Darwazeh, 41, who was working for the Associated Press news agency, was the fourth journalist killed in the West Bank in a year. An army spokeswoman said he had been shot during a clash in the cramped alleys of the casbah after the arrest of a woman planning a suicide bombing inside Israel. At least 18 other Palestinians were wounded.

The Foreign Press Association demanded a "full and swift investigation". It complained that no one had been brought to book for the previous three incidents. Mr Darwazeh was wearing a yellow vest identifying him as a journalist.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, soldiers shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian who had attacked them with a Molotov cocktail near the village of Azoun.

With the West Bank sealed for the Passover and Easter weekend, Israelis inside the old Green Line border enjoyed their most relaxed holiday in 30 months. Thousands of families picnicked in forests and on beaches. Hotels and boarding houses in Galilee and Eilat were fully booked with Israelis. Armed police were on the alert, but unobtrusive.

The security forces insisted that while the Palestinian militants were finding Israeli cities and public transport harder to hit, they were still trying. Their motivation remained high. That, they explained, was why the army was continuing to take the battle into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In yesterday's raid in Rafah, the Israelis blew up two tunnels used for smuggling weapons from Egypt. A military spokeswoman said one of them was 30 metres below ground. Israel claimed to have uncovered 10 such tunnels since the beginning of this year.

Army sappers demolished three houses, including the home of Mahmoud Abu Shamala, the alleged commander of the Hamas militia in Rafah. Israel accused him of being a leading arms smuggler and dealer, as well as orchestrating attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers. He is still at large.

After the troops withdrew, Hamas retaliated by firing three al-Kassam rockets into the Israeli border town of Sderot. One set a four-storey building on fire and injured a female civilian.