MIDDLE EAST: Less than a day after the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, vowed to target the Islamic militant Hamas movement in Gaza, troops backed by dozens of armoured vehicles and attack helicopters thrust deep into Gaza City early yesterday.
They killed nine Palestinians and destroyed 13 metal workshops the army said were being used to make weapons.
While the army said all nine men killed were militants, including a senior member of the Hamas military wing, Palestinian hospital officials insisted that six of the nine were civilians hit by stray Israeli fire.
Twenty-four people were also injured in the raid.
During the incursion, troops blew up the home of Mr Mohammed Farhat, who Israel says was responsible for a March shooting attack at a Jewish settlement in the Strip in which five Israeli seminary students were killed.
"During the activity, explosive devices were targeted at the soldiers. Army forces returned fire and hit a number of armed men," a statement from the military said.
"Nine people have been killed and more than 24 injured due to the ongoing, brutal attacks today against two residential neighbourhoods by the occupation army that used machineguns from helicopters and tank shells," said Dr Moawia Hassanein, director of emergency services at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital.
Mr Sharon was criticised by some politicians for going after the Fatah party of the Palestinian Authority president, Mr Yasser Arafat, and members of its armed wing, rather than focusing military efforts on Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the Tel Aviv suicide bombing last week.
However, the Israeli Prime Minister said he still planned to turn his attentions to the militant Islamic movement.
"Our job in Gaza is not done," he said. "The day will come, as soon as we get the necessary troops together, that we will have to strike against Hamas and prevent its ability to act."
In recent weeks, the Israeli army has been making regular forays into Palestinian-controlled areas of Gaza to destroy metal workshops it believes are being used to produce rockets.
But the raid yesterday morning was the deepest in the Strip since the start of fighting two years ago.
Most observers, however, said the incursion was not the type of massive operation the Prime Minister might have been referring to.
Several months ago, after the army carried out an extensive operation in the West Bank, Mr Sharon appeared to be on the verge of ordering a similar invasion of Gaza, but the operation was ultimately called off.
In Ramallah, Israel continued its siege yesterday on Mr Arafat, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling on it to cease all actions around the Palestinian leader's compound.
There was no resumption of talks, which began on Monday and which were aimed at ending the standoff over Israel's demand that some 20 militants inside Mr Arafat's compound surrender.