Israeli troops pushed deep into the largest Palestinian refugee camp Thursday, a first in four years of fighting, after a Palestinian rocket killed two preschoolers in an Israeli border town. Fourteen Palestinians and three Israelis — including a woman jogging in a Jewish settlement — were killed in the fighting in the northern Gaza Strip. Eighty-five Palestinians, both civilians and militants, were wounded in the sprawling Jebaliya refugee camp, a militant stronghold and scene of the fiercest battle.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz decided after consultations with army commanders Thursday to widen the military campaign and send more troops to Gaza, Israel Army Radio said. Mofaz's plan for an unprecedented operation was to be presented to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his inner Cabinet later in the day for approval. Previous Israeli military operations — including 12 major ones — have not stopped the rockets. Defense Ministry officials were not available for comment.
The heaviest fighting raged in the Jebaliya refugee camp, just north of Gaza City. Bulldozers demolished 15 homes along a relatively narrow road leading into the camp, witnesses said, apparently to widen it and allow more tanks to get through. Armored vehicles avoided the booby-trapped main street in the camp. "A bulldozer entered our living room and demolished half the house," said Hussein al-Jamal, a resident of the camp's Block 2, adding that he and his family fled, along with many of his neighbors. On Wednesday, Hamas militants fired a rocket at the Israeli border town of Sderot despite the massive army presence, killing two children, ages 2 and 4, as they played on a sidewalk at the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
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