A missile fired from an Israeli helicopter killed at least 11 Palestinians and injured 140 others today in the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza, witnesses said.
A gun battle had erupted in Jabalya during an overnight raid by 50 Israeli tanks on the refugee camp, witnesses said, and continued as troops pulled out of the area and withdrew into an alley.
The troops fired tank shells and heavy machine guns. A helicopter gunship hovering overhead fired missiles, hitting a group of people who were watching the firefighters at work.
An Israeli army spokesman claimed only one shell was fired when a soldier spotted a Palestinian about to launch a rocket, adding that 10 of the 11 Palestinians killed were fighters.
But Palestinian medical sources said the most of those killed were civilians.
During the operation, the Israelis dynamited three houses belonging to Hamas militants, damaging another 20 in the blasts, Palestinian security sources said. The sources a Hamas leader was also arrested.
In the West Bank, an Islamic Jihad member was also shot dead by soldiers as he tried to escape arrest inBethlehem, and several Palestinian gunmen and stone-throwers were wounded in the northern Jenin area.
The Israeli military operations came hours after a Palestinian suicide bombing on a bus in the northern city of Haifa killed 15 Israelis and wounded 55.