| Troops also blew up four homes in the
Bureij camp, including that of Hamas co-founder Mohammed Taha, 65, who
was wounded in clashes with soldiers, the army said. Several adjacent houses
and a mosque were damaged by the blasts.
Taha's five sons - all senior Hamas activists
- were also arrested. One son, Ayman, who was also wounded Monday, is the
assistant of the top Hamas bombmaker and No. 1 on Israel's wanted list,
Mohammed Deif, the army said.
The arrests signaled a turning point in
Israel's dealings with Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in
shootings and bombings. Since the outbreak of fighting in September 2000,
Israel has killed scores of Hamas militants and rounded up hundreds of
activists, but left the political leadership in Gaza alone.
"This is a continuation of the escalated
aggression against our people and our holy places," Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat told The Associated Press. His Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat
called for U.S. intervention to stop Israel's actions.
Later Monday, Palestinians fired four rockets
from the northern Gaza Strip at the nearby Israeli town of Sderot, the
army said. A number of Israelis were treated for shock but no serious injuries
were reported.
Mohammed Taha founded Hamas in 1987, along
with the group's spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Since then, the
group has emerged as Arafat's biggest political rival. Mohammed and Ayman
Taha were among about 400 suspected Islamic militants Israel deported to
Lebanon for a year in 1992.
Since the outbreak of fighting in September
2000, Hamas has killed hundreds of Israelis in bombings and shootings.
In response, Israel has rounded up many Hamas activists, including leaders
of the military wing. It has not targeted the political leadership, however,
instead hitting installations of Palestinian security forces.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said
Sunday the military would step up strikes against Hamas.
Monday's incursion began at about 2 a.m.
when jeeps and tanks backed by helicopters rolled into Bureij in central
Gaza. Fierce fighting erupted, and hospital doctors said eight Palestinians
were killed. Five were gunmen and three were civilians - two boys, ages
14 and 16, and a 33-year-old woman in her ninth month of pregnancy.
The woman was killed when her house collapsed
on her during the demolition of a nearby building, doctors and her family
said. Six other family members were injured.
Israeli soldiers prevented ambulances from
evacuating the wounded from Bureij for several hours. Army spokesman Assaf
Liberati said the first priority was to protect soldiers and expressed
concern that some of the ambulances were booby-trapped.
The army said it demolished four houses
of militants, including the two-story Taha family home and the home of
a suicide bomber. Hand grenades were thrown from the Taha house at soldiers
who returned fire, wounding Mohammed and Ayman Taha before they were arrested,
the army said. In blowing up the house, troops damaged the outer wall of
an adjacent mosque where Mohammed Taha was a preacher.
The military confirmed that soldiers entered
the mosque, looking for weapons. An AP reporter touring the mosque saw
windows smashed and bullet holes in the facade, apparently from Israeli
helicopter fire; the mosque is in an alley too narrow for ground fighting.
The army denied the damage was deliberate.
Eleven other homes were damaged in the
demolition, leaving about 150 people homeless, Bureij Mayor Kamal Baghdadi
said.
Israeli army spokeswoman Maj. Sharon Feingold
said Taha "is one of the most senior Hamas activists and terrorists, and
I am happy to say he is in our hands." She said the raid "is a clear message
to the terrorists that ... there's a price to be paid."
Hamas said Taha's arrest was a serious
blow, but that the group would continue attacking Israelis. "Israel will
pay a high price for its crimes," spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi said.
The army's offensive against Hamas in Gaza
began two weeks ago, after Hamas blew up an Israeli tank, killing its four-men
crew. Since then, 44 Palestinians, including Hamas gunmen and at least
eight civilians, have been killed in 14 Israeli raids in towns and camps.
Inside Nablus, Israeli troops renewed their
operation in the West Bank city's Casbah - or Old City - early Monday,
blocking the entrances to the area and taking over homes and buildings
to use as lookouts, residents said. Soldiers conducted house-to-house searches
for militants, but no fighting erupted.
In a village near the West Bank town of
Jenin, the army said it demolished the home of a Hamas militant, Fathi
Hatzib, who was accused of driving a suicide bomber to the Park Hotel in
Netanya, where he blew himself up on the eve of Passover last year, killing
29 people.
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