GAZA CITY, Gaza, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Israeli troops Saturday killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after moving tanks into the area to hunt for militants.
Israeli forces led by at least 20 tanks and army personnel carriers entered the village of Beit Hanoun on the northern tip of Gaza, a Palestinian security spokesman said. The troops occupied most of the village, killed four Palestinians, and demolished nine homes and several security installations, the spokesman said.
Israeli radio's Arabic service reported that the army carried out searches in the village and arrested more than 20 Palestinians.
Village residents told United Press International that the army occupied most of the village, which is under Palestinian control with a population of about 20,000 people.
"The incursion into the village reminds us when Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967," said resident Ashraf El Masri.
They said Israeli troops urged residents through loudspeakers not to leave their homes or resist the army.
Gunbattles flared and two Palestinian border police officers were reported killed while 70 others, most of them police officers, were wounded, residents said.
Clashes between residents and Israeli forces erupted near the village main square, where the troops used live ammunition and tear gas as dozens of boys and teens threw stones at them.
Medical sources said a 12-year-old boy was shot dead and dozens were injured.
Israeli bulldozers and tanks kept driving into the village and destroyed three installations for the elite Force 17 of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, also for the intelligence secret security and the public security, according to witness accounts.
Israel insists the Hamas organization has been active in the village, carrying out several attacks in the northern Gaza Strip, including several against settlements.
Israeli radio reported one of the dead was described as an armed man trying to enter the Jewish settlement, Gush Katif, in southern Gaza. Israeli forces said the man may have been preparing a suicide bomb attack. But there was no immediate confirmation he was carrying explosives.
"The terrorist cut the fence and was trying to penetrate the area (at the Gush Katif settlement bloc)," the army said.
