8 dead as Israel raids Rafah camp

Palestinians said about 20 Israeli tanks rumbled into a Rafah refugee camp, drawing fire from militants. More tanks, firing machineguns, moved in during the day. Israeli soldiers killed a 50-year-old man and two gunmen in the camp, medics said, adding another Palestinian was shot in the stomach and died in hospital.

One militant was brought dead to the hospital still clutching a bomb, witnesses said. Another died of shrapnel wounds. A Palestinian policeman was shot near the border post and an onlooker was killed as he watched tanks at his window. Palestinian medics said at least 40 people were wounded.

The Army said Tuesday’s raid was not in response to the ambush in Gaza late on Monday in which two officers died — the first Israelis killed in a month. At least 25 Palestinians died in violence over the same period. An Army spokesman said the Rafah raid was ‘‘part of a continuous fight’’ to destroy tunnels to smuggle arms from Egypt. The Army said one tunnel was found in a house.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which lost two dead in the raid, vowed to strike back inside Israel. The group is linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction. — (Reuters)