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Israeli Attacks On Gaza Kill 20 Palestinians

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By DIAA HADID

The Associated Press

Published: April 17, 2008

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel struck hard against targets in Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 20 Palestinians in a day of heavy fighting that also saw three Israeli soldiers die in a brazen Hamas ambush.

Among the Palestinian dead was a news cameraman.

The surge in violence came after a relatively quiet month and threatened to unravel an Egyptian effort to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

Wednesday's death toll was the highest since an Israeli military offensive in early March that killed more than 120 Gazans, including dozens of civilians. Since then, Israel and Hamas appeared to be honoring an informal truce, though interrupted by Palestinian rocket attacks, some Israeli airstrikes and border skirmishes.

That changed dramatically Wednesday with no apparent trigger, indicating the relative calm was more coincidence than plan.

In the day's deadliest attack, an Israeli helicopter fired four missiles at targets near the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, witnesses said. At least 12 Palestinians, including five children aged 12 to 15, were killed, said Moaiya Hassanain of the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana was killed while filming Israeli tank movements, apparently in an airstrike in the same area. Two bystanders also died.

On Wednesday morning, Palestinian militants ambushed an Israeli ground force in northern Gaza, killing three soldiers, the military said. The soldiers entered Gaza in pursuit of two Hamas militants who planted a bomb near the border and were ambushed by another Hamas force, Israeli defense officials said.

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