Israeli Forces Push Deeper Into North Gaza

With helicopter gunships laying down intense cover fire, Israeli tanks pushed into the northern Gaza Strip before dawn today, taking up positions in three former Jewish settlements. At least two Palestinian militants and a Palestinian police officer were reported killed overnight.

The thrust about a mile into the seaside territory came after Palestinian militants for the second time in 24 hours fired a homemade rocket into the Israeli city of Ashkelon, whose center previously was out of range.

Hours earlier, senior Israeli security officials had authorized a widening of the Gaza offensive, which began June 28 after militants seized an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid.

The Israeli seizure of three dismantled settlements -- Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nisanit -- appeared to signal the establishment of a buffer zone to quell rocket attacks from Gaza’s north.

The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also stressed Wednesday that there were no plans for a long-term reoccupation of the territory, which Israel unilaterally relinquished more than nine months ago.

“We will not reoccupy Gaza,” Justice Minister Haim Ramon told Israel Radio. “But we will hit hard at everyone involved in terrorism against us, using all means and methods at our disposal.”

A military spokesman, Capt. Jacob Dallal, described the operation as part of the effort to recover the abducted soldier and prevent Palestinian militants from firing makeshift rockets into Israel.

“This hopefully will create a very serious dent in their ability to operate,” he said.

Palestinian security officials said a Hamas militant and a Palestinian police officer were killed separately by Israeli shelling in northern Gaza. Six police officers were wounded when a shell landed on a seaside base, the officials said.

The Israeli army reported a strike against what it said was “a cell that was planting explosive devices.” It was not immediately clear whether the two sides were referring to the same incident.

Israel also reported that a gunman, believed to be a Hamas member, was targeted in an airstrike after the incursion began.

Israel has said it holds the Hamas-dominated Palestinian government responsible for the safety of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, the soldier seized June 25 by Palestinian militants. Political leaders of the Islamist group, including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, have denied any advance knowledge of the raid that resulted in the abduction.

In a statement Wednesday, Olmert’s office said, “The rules of the game in dealing with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas must be changed.”

In the West Bank and Gaza, the statement said, “institutions and infrastructure facilitating terrorism” would be targeted.

Israeli officials largely were tight-lipped after a meeting Wednesday of Olmert’s most senior security advisors. “We will take steps, and they will be very serious,” Cabinet minister Yitzhak Herzog told Israel Radio without elaborating.

There are indications that the offensive in Gaza could be a drawn-out affair. Olmert’s office said commanders were told to prepare their troops for a “phased and continuous” operation.

Israel has been increasing pressure on the Hamas-led government, detaining dozens of officials last week, including eight Cabinet ministers.

And Israel appeared to be delivering an explicit message with its early-morning bombardment Wednesday of the Hamas-run Interior Ministry complex in Gaza City. The interior minister, Said Siyam, is a member of Hamas and is believed by Israel to have ties with members of Palestinian militia groups.

The aerial strike, the second on the complex since the Israeli offensive began last week, flattened large sections of the top two floors, including Siyam’s office. Smashed cinder blocks and concrete dust covered the ruined offices; electrical cables and broken reinforcement steel hung from the ruptured ceilings.

Palestinian security officials said at least five residents of an apartment building next door were injured in the strike. Six-foot holes were torn in the wall of the building, peeling open the apartments.

Today’s incursion not only opened a second front in the Gaza offensive but also appeared to mark a shift in emphasis. Previously, Israel had spoken of the operation as solely meant to secure Shalit’s freedom.

But Israeli officials described the attacks on Ashkelon as a grave escalation of the confrontation, even though they caused no serious injuries.

In past years, Kassam rockets often struck small border towns and communal farms, but Ashkelon, a city of about 115,000 people six miles north of Gaza, is the first major Israeli population center to be hit after militants began using more powerful propellants.

Before today’s push, some Israeli officials had signaled that troops might also move into a populated swath of northern Gaza, and not only the abandoned settlements. Military commanders were said to have received authorization for such a deployment.

“If it was up to me, I’d say the residents of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya should start packing,” said Cabinet minister Zeev Boim, referring to two villages in northern Gaza.

In previous days, small groups of Israeli troops had moved into northern Gaza around the Erez crossing and close to Beit Hanoun. A larger force remains in place at a closed-down Palestinian airport in the southern Gaza Strip, near the town of Rafah.

Shalit was believed to have been taken to that area of Gaza after his capture.

Hamas militants denounced the Israeli strike on the Interior Ministry and vowed to continue their efforts to launch more potent rockets into Israel.

Security forces in Israel were on high alert against potential infiltration by attackers. On Wednesday, Israeli forces arrested a 17-year-old militant near the West Bank settlement of Barkan, officials said. The youth, reported to be a member of Islamic Jihad, had been fitted with an explosives belt that was ready for use, according to the Israeli government.

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Ellingwood reported from Gaza City and King from Jerusalem.