Israel kills 19 in major Gaza raid

‘‘When the fighting is over, most of the residents will almost certainly return to their homes,’’ said Colonel Pinky Zuaretz, a field commander.

Under cover of darkness, troops fanned out into Rafah’s Telal-Sultan neighbourhood, taking vantage points in bullet-pocked buildings as soldiers searched house-to-house for militants and fought Palestinian gunmen. Israel had amassed more forces in Gaza than since capturing it in the 1967 West Asia war, commentators said, for a raid launched after militants killed 13 soldiers last week and dealt the Army its biggest blow for two years.

Helicopter gunships killed seven Palestinians, at least three of them gunmen.

The identities of the others were unclear. Palestinian witnesses said the four had gathered for pre-dawn prayers at a mosque set ablaze by the missile strike. Israeli military officials said missiles hit a band of gunmen. Six Palestinians were killed in street fighting, medics said. About 20 people were wounded in the attacks of ‘‘Operation Rainbow’’.

‘‘We will die and they will die, but we are Muslims and we go to heaven. They will go to the fires of hell,’’ said 30-year-old Palestinian policeman Ashraf Al-Jamal. Palestinians fired rockets and set off hidden bombs in the cinderblock camp of 90,000 people, a hotbed of militants who attack soldiers patrolling the Egyptian border. —(Reuters)