Oct 6, 2007, 14:48 GMT
Gaza City - Israeli ground forces accompanied by tanks and Apache helicopters entered eastern Gaza city at noon Saturday, witnesses said.
According to witnesses, three bulldozers, backed by four tanks, started to raze installations in the industrial zone near Karni commercial crossing in the east of Gaza City.
Residents in the area said the helicopters opened machine gunfire to provide cover for the forces on the ground while children threw stones at the tanks.
Palestinian fighters, carrying mines and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers, fought the sudden incursion.
Earlier, the Israeli army rolled into eastern parts of central Gaza Strip and clashed with Palestinian militants before withdrawing in the morning, residents of al-Maghazi and al-Burij refugee camps said.
Meanwhile, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) claimed responsibility for launching a home-made rocket into the southern Israel city of Sderot.
'The rocket attack was in response to the Israeli crimes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank,' the brigades said in a statement e-mailed to the media.
The incursion came as a Palestinian research centre for prisoners' issues called on Egypt to renew its mediation between Israel and the Palestinian factions that are holding an Israeli soldier in Gaza.
Ra'fat Hamdouna, director of the Prisoners' Centre for Study and Research, said that the Egyptian efforts should be based on 'humanitarian and national dimensions.'
The Palestinian factions holding Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit are demanding Israel release older prisoners, women, children and the infirm from its jails in exchange for the soldier. Israel is holding about 11,000 Palestinians.
'Neglecting those groups of prisoners in any future swap won't make the deal fruitful,' said Hamdouna, adding he was 'optimistic that the Egyptian intervention could work out.'
Egypt suspended mediation in June when the Islamic Hamas movement, which led Shalit's captors, seized control of the Gaza Strip and routed forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
A spokesman for Abbas' Fatah movement denied on Saturday reports of secret talks abroad with rival Hamas.
'What has been published recently about a big conference for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Fatah leaders slated to be held in Damascus is fabricated news,' Ahmed Abdel Rahman said in a statement sent to the press.
He accused Hamas, which is not part of the PLO, of calling for the conference 'to boost their violent power by showing the people that some sides in this or that country support them.'
'Any conference not called by President Abbas, the PLO or its executive committee is not a legitimate one and has no value,' Abdel Rahman added.
Abbas wants Hamas to end its control of the Gaza Strip and leave the security compounds taken during the fighting. Hamas has rejected the demands and has called for unconditional dialogue.
Meanwhile, chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei said that upcoming negotiations with Israel would not start from zero, unlike previous talks.
'The form of solution has become clear for the two sides and we just need to put this form into an agreement,' Qurei told Jerusalem- based al-Quds daily.
'Claiming that the current internal (Palestinian) situation doesn't allow for a solution is no longer acceptable because the settlement will resolve other problems for the Israelis and the Palestinians,' the negotiator added.
The Palestinian Territories are currently divided between the Gaza Strip run by Hamas (boycotted by the United States and Israel) and the West Bank run by Fatah.
Abbas appointed Qurei, a former premier and a key negotiator, to head the Palestinian negotiation team which will meet a similar Israeli team to work on a deal before attending a US-sponsored peace conference.
'We must look for alternatives and choices if we do not reach a joint document with Israel before the November international conference,' said Qurei, adding that the document should include 'the basic points based on international resolutions, the Arab peace initiative and President Bush's vision.'
He also asserted that the Palestinian Authority, Israel and the United States 'should be united in a timetable setting the start and the end of the negotiation process.'
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