GAZA (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Israeli tanks rumbled into a Palestinian-ruled town in the southern Gaza Strip early on Thursday and troops wounded at least 13 Palestinians in heavy shooting, witnesses and medical officials said.The occupation army had no immediate comment on the night raid into Khan Younis, which has reportedly followed a mortar bomb attack on a nearby Jewish settlement on Wednesday in which an occupation soldier was wounded. Palestinian witnesses said Israeli occupation forces withdrew from Khan Younis after three hours.
The violence, on the eve of a visit to the Middle East by European Union leaders, dealt a new setback to hopes of a quick end to more than 13 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence in which almost 900 people have been killed.
Witnesses said a gun battle began after occupation troops and 12 armored vehicles, including tanks and bulldozers, moved at least 700 yards into the Khan Younis refugee camp shortly after midnight.
They said hundreds of people left their homes as helicopters hovered overhead. Four buildings caught fire and calls to arms rang out from loudspeakers attached to mosques.
The Palestinian witnesses said tanks had fired shells and one described the Israeli firing as ``indiscriminate.'' Another said the Palestinians fired mortar bombs.
Palestinian hospital officials said two of the 13 wounded were in a critical condition.
The occupation army claimed on Wednesday Resistance men in the area had fired at the settlement of Neve Dekalim and occupation troops had fired back. It said an occupation soldier was wounded by Palestinian gunfire, and that Palestinians fired three mortar rounds at another Jewish settlement in the area- settlements in the Gaza strip and the West Bank are internationally illegal.