Israeli forces killed six Palestinians including four gunmen in raids in the Gaza Strip on Thursday while a 57-year-old woman holding an explosive device tried to blow herself up near soldiers.
An army spokeswoman said soldiers spotted the woman near the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza and threw a grenade at her, detonating the device. Three soldiers were lightly wounded. The woman was killed.
The Israeli operations came a day after the government decided to press on with an offensive in Gaza but not order a massive assault aimed at curbing an upsurge in Palestinian militant rocket strikes on the Jewish state. The armed wing of the governing Hamas movement claimed responsibility for the attempted suicide bombing and identified the woman as Fatima al-Nejar.
An Israeli air strike on a car in northern Gaza killed two militants, residents said. Two other militants were killed in separate attacks. Israeli soldiers also fought periodic gunbattles with gunmen, witnesses said. Hospital officials said a 20-year-old male civilian was shot dead by Israeli troops east of the town of Beit Lahiya. The army said it was checking the report.
Residents said troops backed by tanks earlier thrust into Beit Lahiya. Tanks firing machineguns stormed a housing project, killing a 19-year-old male civilian, hospital officials said.
Israel said troops were operating in suburbs around Beit Lahiya, but denied forces were in densely populated areas. Two Israeli soldiers were also wounded by anti-tank missiles, the army said. Residents said the incursion into Beit Lahiya was one of the biggest since Israel launched an offensive in late June after gunmen, including Hamas members, abducted a soldier in a cross-border raid from Gaza.
On the Palestinian political front, sources from the ruling Hamas movement said Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh had met President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah in the Gaza Strip, a sign that unity government negotiations were back on track.
Hamas sources described the meeting as "positive" but did not elaborate. A senior Fatah official declined to comment on the meeting but said the two men would hold more discussions on Thursday evening to try to bridge differences.
The talks, aimed at lifting Western sanctions on the Hamas government, had been suspended on Monday partly because of disputes over distribution of cabinet seats.
Rockets fired from Gaza have killed two Israelis in the past week. Militants say the rockets are a response to Israeli assaults. Israel has killed more than 370 Palestinians in Gaza, about half of them civilians, since it began the offensive, hospital officials and residents say. Three soldiers have been killed.