The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Gaza

Israeli troops killed four Palestinians in a raid into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Sunday, witnesses said, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to step up attacks on militants who fire rockets into Israel.

Palestinian hospital officials said three of the dead in the al-Bureij refugee camp were civilians -- a woman, an 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old youth. The fourth was a Hamas gunman killed in battle with the Israelis, the Islamist faction said.

Militants fired an anti-tank rocket, wounding five Israeli soldiers, during the raid which raised tension ahead of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank starting on Wednesday.

The fighting, which ended when Israeli forces withdrew at nightfall, also wounded at least 34 Palestinians, including four women, seven children and 15 gunmen.

Olmert told his cabinet that Defence Minister Ehud Barak had ordered security forces "to escalate Israel's actions" in coastal Gaza after a rocket fired by militants last week reached an unprecedented distance, hitting the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

Israeli ground forces moved into al-Bureij at dawn, according to military and Palestinian officials.

Palestinian hospital staff said the 18-year-old and the other youth were shot dead. The woman died when a tank shell hit the house she was in. Another tank shell killed the gunman.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said troops shot several gunmen. She had no immediate word on the civilian casualties.

Israel has stepped up attacks against militants in Gaza to try to curb cross-border rocket salvoes from the territory.

Earlier this week, Israeli troops raided the West Bank city of Nablus, conducting house-to-house searches and detaining at least 6 Palestinians. The raids triggered clashes with stone- throwing youths that injured at least 29 people.

The operations have drawn censure from the administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who, after losing control of Gaza to Hamas, formally relaunched peace talks with Olmert at a conference convened by Bush in November.

"We call on Israel to halt its military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," Abbas's prime minister, Salam Fayyad, told reporters.