Israeli occupation forces killed four Palestinians in a raid by tanks and helicopter gunships on a refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip early on Thursday, witnesses and hospital officials said. They said a helicopter missile strike killed three unarmed civilians and occupation troops shot dead a 24-year-old gunman. In the West Bank town of Qalqilya, witnesses said occupation soldiers firing from jeeps also killed a 14-year-old boy standing outside his home.

The Israeli occupation army, which has reoccupied much of the West Bank and carried out numerous raids in Gaza during a 30-month-old Palestinian uprising for independence, had no immediate comment on the operations.

Despite Washington's appeals for calm, Israeli-Palestinian violence has continued sporadically since the start of a U.S.-led war on Iraq last month.

Occupation Army Penetrates Rafah

Witnesses said helicopters roared overhead as about 30 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers accompanied by armored bulldozers penetrated Rafah, a hardscrabble camp near Gaza's border with Egypt, just after midnight.

They said one helicopter fired a missile into a group of people who had gathered outside to watch the armored column rumble in. The blast sprayed shrapnel through the area, killing three people -- aged 18, 19 and 24 -- and wounding three.

Residents said armed resistance men rushed in after the air strike and engaged in fierce gun battles with occupation soldiers.

The objective of the incursion was not immediately clear. Israeli occupation forces have raided the camp before to hunt for resistance men, demolish buildings and destroy cross-border weapons smuggling tunnels.

Mass Round-Ups in West Bank

The Gaza raid followed an Israeli occupation army sweep in the West Bank town of Tulkarm on Wednesday in which occupation troops rounded up hundreds of Palestinians three days after a resistance bomber from the area struck a nearby Israeli seaside town, injuring 30 people.

Palestinian officials denounced the operation, accusing Israel of intensifying its clampdown on the Palestinians while world attention was turned to war in Iraq

Palestinian witnesses said about 2,000 people were brought in.

Eleven were identified as wanted resistance men and taken into custody, the occupation army said.

Washington Preoccupied with Iraq

The United States, chief mediator in the conflict, is now preoccupied with war in Iraq and facing rising anti-American resentment in the Arab world. It has urged Israel to restrain occupation army operations and called on Palestinians to curb attacks.

Palestinian violence has tailed off somewhat since U.S. and British occupation forces invaded Iraq on March 20, while Israel has cut back on its raids against Islamic resistance men in Gaza.

Against this backdrop, security officers from Gaza met recently with Israeli counterparts for the first time in months, Palestinian Major General Abdel-Razek al-Majaydeh told Reuters.

But he said the meeting was at a junior level and did not signify resumption of long-suspended security cooperation talks. "There were no results from the meeting," he said on Wednesday.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinians weep as they look at the body of Omar Matar, 14, in the West Bank town of Ramallah during his funeral.
(AFP/Jamal Aruri)