At least 20 Palestinians, 1 Israeli killed as Israel steps up offensive in Gaza

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip — Palestinian militants armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades battled Israeli helicopters and tanks Thursday in the bloodiest day since Israel invaded Gaza over a soldier's capture. At least 20 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier died.

Israeli troops retook three empty Jewish settlements nearly a year after abandoning them, seeking to carve out a temporary buffer zone in the northern Gaza Strip to prevent militants from firing more rockets into Israel.

Throughout the day, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at militants while Israeli tanks took up positions among tightly packed Palestinian homes. Apache helicopters hovered overhead, firing flares and machine guns to support ground troops fighting masked Palestinian gunmen.

Interior Minister Said Siyyam of the Palestinians' ruling Hamas party issued the regime's first call to arms since Israel invaded last week, urging Gaza security forces to fulfill their "religious and moral duty to stand up to this aggression and cowardly Zionist invasion."

Siyyam doesn't carry much weight with Palestinian security forces, however, because most are loyal to the rival Fatah party led by the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Earlier this week, Hamas militants fired two rockets into the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. No one was hurt, but the rockets were the first to reach a major Israeli population center, indicating militants have obtained longer-range weapons.

That infuriated Israel, and a senior official said Israeli troops moved into the densely populated towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, where militants often launch rockets. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss military plans.

"We are doing the utmost effort ... to avoid civilian casualties," said another military official, Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan. "Really, there is no other way of operating against terrorists who are operating inside their own civilian populations."

Israel began its ground invasion June 28, three days after militants linked to Hamas captured Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, in a daring cross-border raid. Israeli officials said they would do what was necessary to get the soldier back.

On Thursday, the fighting swelled — and so did the death toll.

Israeli helicopter gunships circled over the outskirts of Beit Lahiya, providing support fire as Israeli tanks maneuvered among tightly packed Palestinian homes.

Infantrymen took over one family's house, locking the inhabitants on the bottom floor of the home and posting snipers on the upper floors. Outside, armored bulldozers pushed up sand embankments to shelter tanks.