1 Reported Killed in Israeli Strikes on Gaza

Israel launched fierce air, land and sea strikes on Palestinian security targets throughout the Gaza Strip on Monday just hours after a Palestinian mortar attack on an Israeli town.

The Israeli army said it launched the raids in response to the attack on Sderot. It said the mortar attack had penetrated deeper into Israel than any other since the start of the Palestinian uprising 6 1/2 months ago.

The raids Monday were some of the fiercest offensives since the violence erupted in September after the breakdown of peace talks, Palestinian security officials said.

Palestinian sources said a 24-year-old policeman was killed when Israeli tanks shelled a Palestinian police post near the village of Beit Hanoun, from where the Israelis believed mortar rounds had been fired.

Palestinian hospital authorities said that at least 27 people had been wounded but that a full casualty count would not be possible until ambulances reached areas cut off by fighting.

Missiles fired from Israeli helicopters and naval vessels struck Palestinian police headquarters in Gaza City and several posts belonging to Force 17, an elite security unit, the officials said.

One naval attack appeared to target a key coastal road in Gaza, but the strikes missed, witnesses said.

Israel also fired eight surface-to-surface missiles, witnesses said. The Israeli army would not comment on the rocket attacks.

Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered a Palestinian-ruled area of the Gaza Strip for the third time in a week, clearing agricultural land and engaging in a firefight with gunmen, a Palestinian security official said.

The Israeli military said the Palestinians had ignored repeated warnings to stop mortar attacks against Israeli villages and army positions. Israel had no intention of holding Palestinian-controlled territory and planned to withdraw its soldiers once the operation was over, a statement said.

The army said it had closed off roads in the Gaza Strip and entered Palestinian areas.

Earlier, five Palestinian mortar shells landed in and around the desert town of Sderot, about three miles from Gaza and just down the road from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s ranch in southern Israel.

Sharon’s spokesman, Raanan Gissin, vowed that Israel would retaliate. He said the Israeli leader met with top security officials and would seek a way to “bring about the cessation to such hostilities.”

Gissin said the Palestinian Authority was directly responsible for the mortar attack.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed-Rabbo condemned the Israeli shelling and denied that the Palestinian Authority was tied to the mortar attack.

The Palestinians canceled a meeting of security commanders set for late Monday. The U.S.-sponsored session, which would have been the third in recent days, was meant to defuse the crisis and restore cooperation.

In Jerusalem, Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Ilah Khatib presented Israeli leaders with a plan to end fighting with the Palestinians, though Israel signaled that it would reject it.