Israeli troops, militants battle in Gaza suburb

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops battled Palestinian gunmen in a suburb of Gaza City on Sunday morning as Israel's military inched closer to Gaza's population centers and residents braced for an expansion of the offensive.

The fighting in the Sheikh Ajleen neighborhood erupted before dawn and continued into the morning as Israeli infantrymen and tanks advanced toward Gaza City and its approximately 400,000 residents, Palestinian witnesses said. Hamas and the smaller militant group Islamic Jihad said they ambushed the Israelis in what appeared to be one of the fiercest land battles since Israel sent ground forces into the coastal territory on Jan. 3.

At least 12 people were killed, Palestinian health officials said. How many were militants and how many civilians was not immediately known.

After dawn, Israeli troops were seen on the neighborhood's main street and in nearby orchards and fields.

"We are safe, but we don't know for how long," said Khamis Alawi, 44, who huddled with his wife and six children in their kitchen overnight. He said bullets riddled his walls and several came in through the windows.

Hamas militants launched a barrage of rockets at the Israeli city of Beersheba, causing damage but no casualties. Hamas has been hard-hit by the Israeli offensive, but continues to fire rockets from inside Palestinian residential areas, paralyzing much of southern Israel.

Open areas in northern Gaza from which militants once launched many of their rockets are now in Israeli hands.

Israeli warplanes bombed targets along the Egypt-Gaza frontier near the town of Rafah early Sunday, shattering windows at the border terminal. The area is riddled by tunnels used to smuggle weapons and supplies into Gaza, and has been repeatedly bombed throughout the Israeli offensive.

Israel dropped leaflets on Gaza on Saturday warning of a wider offensive.

"The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) is not working against the people of Gaza but against Hamas and the terrorists only," the leaflets said in Arabic. "Stay safe by following our orders."

Israeli defense officials say they are prepared for a third stage of their offensive, in which ground troops would push further into Gaza, but are waiting for approval from the government.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because military plans have not been made public, said the army also has a contingency plan for a fourth phase; the full reoccupation of Gaza and toppling of Hamas.