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Sunday, Dec. 22
The Indiana Daily Student

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12 Palestinians die in Israeli raids in Gaza and the West Bank

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli forces killed 12 Palestinians in fighting in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday as the army pressed a wide-ranging offensive against militants.\nThe raids were the latest in a three-week operation that began after Hamas-linked militants captured an Israeli soldier. The fighting has persisted even as Israel waged a second battle with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon after they seized two soldiers last week.\n"We have a forgotten war in Gaza and the West Bank," Palestinian lawmaker Saeb Erekat said. "We urge the international community to offer direct intervention to stop this Israeli military escalation."\nA U.N. report issued Wednesday said the Israeli army has carried out 168 airstrikes and fired more than 600 shells into Gaza, while Palestinian militants have fired 177 homemade rockets toward Israel.\nThe report said 100 Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza offensive began, not counting the 12 on Wednesday. Thirty of the 100 were under age 18, the U.N. report said.\nUnder cover of machine-gun fire early Wednesday, tanks moved into the Mughazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip and took over several rooftops as bulldozers leveled farmland.\nFighting broke out and five militants were killed, Palestinians said. Another militant died in an airstrike in the camp after dawn, hospital officials said.\nLate Wednesday, military aircraft fired on about 20 gunmen as they approached troops in the camp near the Israeli border, the army said. One person was killed and 20 were wounded, hospital officials said.\nA second airstrike Wednesday night wounded five people, two critically, hospital officials said.\nMore than 70 Palestinians were wounded in the raid on the camp, hospital officials said. The military said five Israeli soldiers were also wounded, two seriously.\nAlso Wednesday, about 50 Israeli armored vehicles, including tanks and bulldozers, rolled into Nablus and demolished a Palestinian security compound and several other government buildings in what the army said was a raid to capture militants involved with Hezbollah.\nThree Palestinians were killed in fighting after troops surrounded the city's security headquarters. The army said the three men belonged to a cell that was activated by Hezbollah and was planning attacks on Israel. Another Palestinian died later Wednesday from his wounds, hospital officials said.

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