Gaza: Israeli forces withdrew from most of the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday after three days of fierce fighting, but clashes erupted on the outskirts of Gaza City, killing two Palestinians including a policeman.
The Israeli army, which launched its offensive to free an abducted soldier and halt rocket fire, pulled out of the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, the Erez industrial zone as well as former Israeli settlements along the Mediterranean.
Israeli forces have also pulled back from the heavily populated town of Beit Hanoun. "The operation is not over," said an army spokesman. "We are acting at our own discretion and we do not rule out a return to these areas."
Israeli troops had created what amounted to a buffer zone along the strip's northern border in a bid to push rocket launchers further from Israeli population areas. Israel troops remain in central and southern Gaza.
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli aircraft fired missiles at gunmen in the pre-dawn fighting on the edge of the densely packed neighborhood of Shijaia, a stronghold of the governing Hamas movement. Medics said the Palestinian policeman who was shot dead was wearing his uniform.
It was unclear whether he was taking part in the fighting. An Israeli army spokesman said forces exchanged heavy fire with militants in the area, near the Karni commercial crossing in central Gaza, but he was unaware of any policeman being hit. Several other Palestinians were wounded overnight, including another policeman.
The clashes near Karni took place after Israeli troops and tanks moved into the area in search of tunnels that could be used by militants, the army said. It was the first time fighting had broken out in the area since Israel launched its Gaza offensive last week in a bid to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
A third Palestinian died from wounds suffered in fighting on Friday in northern Gaza, medics said. At least 41 Palestinians, a majority of them militants, have been killed since the Israeli operations began, according to Palestinian medics and officials.
The incursion has piled pressure on the Hamas-led Palestinian government, already reeling from a Western aid embargo, and has dashed any hope of renewing peace talks anytime soon. An Israeli army spokesman said the Karni operation was not as large scale as the one launched along Gaza's northern tip, where tanks and troops had taken over former Jewish settlements.
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