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4 Gaza militants dead in clash with Israeli troops
By DIAA HADID,Associated Press Writer AP - Thursday, November 13
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli troops and Palestinian militants fired missiles and mortars at each other along the Gaza-Israel border on Wednesday, killing four Gaza gunmen and further chipping away at an eroding truce.
Israel has responded to the violence by clamping down on the seaside territory, home to 1.4 million Palestinians, and a U.N. aid agency warned Wednesday it would be forced to halt aid shipments this week if the closure is not eased.
Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers and Israeli leaders have said they're interested in restoring calm in the region but the latest fighting highlighted the persistent tensions along the border despite the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that took hold in June.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, and Israel later declared Gaza a "hostile entity."
The Israeli military and Palestinian militants gave conflicting versions of how Wednesday's fighting started.
The military said clashes began after Israeli troops spotted militants trying to lay an explosive device near the Israel-Gaza border fence. Soldiers killed four militants, at one point entering Gaza in pursuit of gunmen, the military said. Israeli aircraft also fired two missiles at open fields.
Palestinian militants said they fired mortars only after the Israeli forces crossed into Gaza.
Hamas threatened retaliation. "Our response to the enemy will be painful, and will spill the Zionists' blood," spokesman Abu Obeida said in a statement. But Hamas stopped short of declaring the truce to be over.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak praised his forces. "The quick reactions of the soldiers, who know how to switch in split seconds from routine patrols along the fence to fighting mode, once again dictated the result of the battle, and it is good that this is the case," he said during a meeting with army commanders. His comment was broadcast on Army Radio.
The truce began to unravel last week, after Israeli forces trying to destroy a militants' tunnel entered Gaza, setting off battles that killed seven Palestinian gunmen. The fighting unleashed a wave of rocket attacks from Gaza at Israeli border towns.
Israel closed its border crossings with Gaza shortly after the violence broke out last week. On Wednesday, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency warned it would be forced to halt its food distribution to 750,000 needy Gazans this week because it could not replenish supplies.
"This has now become a blockade on the United Nations," said UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness.
Military spokesman Peter Lerner said Israel might allow food aid to pass through on Thursday.
A U.N. flour warehouse in Gaza City was empty Wednesday, and another held six tons of canned meat _ half of what's needed for a day's distribution, the U.N. said.
Foreign journalists who've also been affected by the clampdown protested Israel's decision to keep them out of Gaza for a seventh straight day.
In a statement, the Foreign Press Association, which represents international media covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, described the ban as a "serious violation of press freedom."
"This is Israel's policy to not show what's going on in Gaza," said Conny Mus, a reporter for the Dutch television channel RTL.
Also Wednesday, diplomats charged that Israeli security forces stopped their tour of the volatile West Bank city of Hebron. About 20 diplomats, led by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki, were walking in the Israeli controlled part of the city when their way was blocked, they said.
Israeli police said the group was diverted to the Palestinian-controlled part of the city. Israel controls a section of central Hebron where about 500 Jewish settlers live.
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