Israeli forces raid Gaza camp, 2 killed, 8 wounded

12/17/2004 8:00:00 AM GMT

Israeli occupation forces raided a Gaza refugee camp on Friday, killing two Palestinians, wounding eight others, and making several homeless by the demolition of their houses, Palestinian sources said.

Israeli tanks destroyed several Palestinian houses during the operation in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the occupied Strip.

The Israeli army claims that Friday attack was part of an operation aimed at stopping mortar and rocket attacks on Jewish settlements.

Israel says said that the Palestinian fighters use the camp to launch their attacks targeting Israeli settlements.

It added that the operation was still ongoing, and will include helicopter missile strikes to destroy launching points for rockets and mortar bombs.

Witnesses said that about 25 tanks and armoured personnel carriers were used in Friday raid which started with an airstrike on the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza where a Palestinian fighter was killed and eight others were wounded.

Witnesses also said that a second Palestinian, said to be a civilian, was killed during fighting later as Israeli army bulldozed a number of houses, its says are being used by the Palestinians to launch missiles and mortars.

Israeli forces say that Palestinian fighters fired 30 rockets and mortar bombs at settlements in the Gaza Strip this week.

A Thai agricultural labourer was killed on Tuesday during one of the barrages on a settlement.

Earlier, an Israeli forces launched an airstrike at a carpentry shop in the Rafah camp, on Gaza's border with Egypt.

The military claims that Hamas fighters used the shop for making mortars.