5 Israeli soldiers die in attack by Palestinians

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – An explosion destroyed an Israeli armored vehicle Wednesday, killing five soldiers, in the second such attack by Palestinian militants in Gaza in two days. Hours later, an Israeli missile attack killed seven Palestinians, residents and Palestinian medical officials said.

Fourteen other Palestinians were wounded in the missile strike on the Rafah refugee camp near the Egyptian border, the medical officials said.

The military said it targeted a group of militants planting bombs and firing at soldiers searching the area of Wednesday’s blast, which occurred next to the camp on the Gaza-Egypt border.

Residents said at least four of the Palestinians killed were gunmen.

In all, 11 Israeli soldiers and 23 Palestinians were killed Tuesday and Wednesday in three days of Gaza fighting, and more than 175 Palestinians were wounded in the biggest operation in Gaza in nearly a decade.

The Israeli deaths reignited debate over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from Gaza, despite a veto by his Likud Party and fierce opposition by ultranationalist coalition partners.

The militant Islamic Jihad group, which has close ties to Lebanese guerrillas, claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s blast on a patrol road along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Tuesday’s blast in the Zeitoun area killed six soldiers and scattered remains of Israeli bodies across a wide radius, and Wednesday’s blast killed five soldiers. Palestinian militants displayed some remains in the street and said the remains would not be released until Israel pulled its troops out of Gaza City.

Early today, Israeli forces began pulling out of Gaza City, Israel Radio reported, completing their search for soldiers’ remains.

A masked, armed militant saying he spoke for the Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade said today that according to an agreement worked out with the Palestinian Authority and Egypt, the militants gave the soldiers’ remains to the authority after the Israeli pullout from Gaza City.

A Palestinian ambulance took the fragments to the Erez crossing to be handed over to the Israelis, Palestinian officials said.

Associated Press

Palestinians rush a wounded man to the hospital Wednesday after an Israeli missile strike in a refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.

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