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The specter of a military invasion on Friday hung over Hamas-run Gaza Strip where two children were killed as Palestinian fighters fired more rockets despite Israeli threats of harsh retaliation.
Two girls, one aged five and the other 12, were killed when their house in northern Gaza was hit by a rocket which witnesses said was apparently fired by Palestinian fighters targeting southern Israel.
Four other family members were wounded.
The casualties came amid mounting speculation that the Israeli military would soon launch an operation in the Gaza Strip, which most media said would probably be limited in scope and not a full-scale invasion.
"Army preparing for combined ground, air operation in Gaza," declared the front-page headline in Israel's Haaretz newspaper.
Violence in and around the Palestinian enclave has flared since a six-month ceasefire ended on December 19, and escalated dramatically on Wednesday when fighters fired more than 80 rockets and mortar rounds after Israel launched deadly air strikes over the coastal strip.
On Friday, 13 rockets and mortar shells hit southern Israel, causing no casualties but damaging a house that was unoccupied at the time.
Israel had responded to earlier rocket attacks by tightening the blockade it has imposed since the Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007.
But officials said dozens of truckloads of supplies were delivered to Gaza on Friday after Israel decided to temporarily allow humanitarian aid into the impoverished territory.
At the same time, the Israeli government issued dire warnings to Gaza fighters, saying it would strike back hard if attacks continue.
"I will not hesitate to use Israel's strength to strike at Hamas and Islamic Jihad," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television on Thursday, adding ominously that "tens of thousands of children and innocents" would be at risk "as a result of Hamas's actions."
Since the Egyptian-mediated truce ended last week, Israel has threatened to launch a major offensive on Gaza, and senior leaders called for the toppling of Hamas.
The Islamist movement has warned in turn that it would retaliate by resuming suicide bombings inside Israel. The last such attack claimed by Hamas was in January 2005.
PHOTO CAPTION
Palestinian mourners carry the body of Hamas fighter Yahi al-Shaaher during his funeral in Rafah.
AFP
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