Israeli tanks and soldiers backed by helicopter gunships have seized new positions on the edge of a Gaza Strip refugee camp where 11 Palestinians were killed in a raid the previous day.
Pushing into Palestinian-controlled areas, an Israeli armoured force rolled up to the edge of Jabalya refugee camp and the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, establishing new observation points.
Israel Radio's military affairs correspondent said Israeli troops would likely remain in the new observation positions for some time to come.
The army said the aim of the latest operation in a two-week-old offensive against Islamic militants was to prevent Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The initial raid early yesterday came hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber, in the first such attack in two months, killed 15 people on a bus packed with high school students in the port city of Haifa on Wednesday.
The Israeli raids have fuelled Palestinian fears that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new right-wing government intends to step up the military campaign in the Gaza Strip while world attention is focused on a possible US-led war in Iraq.
In the West Bank, Israeli security forces shot dead a Palestinian gunman who they said tried to infiltrate the Jewish settlement of Hamra last night.
Elsewhere, three Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim southof Gaza City on Friday. Israeli military sources claimed the men were armed.At least 1,905 Palestinians and 720 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising for statehood began in September 2000 after talks between the two sides stalled.