Israeli forces raided the Rafah refugee camp early on Tuesday in what appeared to be the start of a wide-scale operation. At least 12 Palestinians were killed. At least seven were reportedly killed in two separate air strikes. The others were shot dead by Israeli gunfire. At least 30 Palestinians were wounded.Some of the Palestinian victims were identified as Mahmoud Ismail Abu Tuq, 33, Emad al Maghari, Ahmed Jaser al Shaer. Muhammed Jaser al Shaer, 17, Ziad Shabana, Ibrahim Ismail al Balawi, 18. Shortly after 4 A.M. (local time) an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile at a crowd in the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza Strip-Egypt border, witnesses said, killing at least four people and wounding 17. The air strike, near a mosque, came as people were gathering for morning prayers, witnesses said. In an earlier attack, three Palestinians were killed and eight people were wounded when an Israeli helicopter fired three missiles at an unoccupied part of the Rafah refugee camp. According to press reports, Israeli tanks and troops moved into the neighborhood of Tel Sultan and began digging a trench to separate the quarter from the rest of the camp, witnesses said. A few minutes after the first missile strike, Israeli bulldozers began leveling land next to the refugee camp. Palestinian security officials said the huge, armored bulldozers moved to the edge of the Qishda section of the camp near the border and began working on land in an Israeli-controlled zone. The massive Israeli raid comes amid international condemnation of Israeli demolitions of Palestinian houses in the area. Early Tuesday, Arab states requested an immediate Security Council meeting to consider Israel's destruction of Palestinian homes in the refugee camp. In the West Bank, Palestinian sources reported that Israeli troops killed a 24-year old man. Nidal Abd al Rahman Akasha was shot in his chest, WAFA reported. **PHOTO CAPTION*** The body of a Palestinian who was killed in an Israeli missile strike is carried into Najar hospital in the Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, early Tuesday, May 18, 2004. (AP)