http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060719/wl_nm/mideast_gaza_dc;_ylt=Ambp8wHiIQAcjcaT.hGop9ms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--Israel kills 14 Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank
By Nidal al-Mughrabi 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed 14 Palestinians in clashes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank on Wednesday in one of the worst days of violence since Israel launched an offensive to free an abducted soldier.
Fighting erupted between Israeli troops and militants in central Gaza as the army pushed into the strip, killing nine Palestinians -- four militants and five civilians -- in air strikes and other attacks, medics said.
Three of the militants were from the governing Islamist Hamas movement. Gunmen from the faction, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, and two other groups captured Israeli army Corporal Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid on June 25.
Israel has killed about 110 Palestinians, nearly half of them militants, in Gaza since the abduction and vowed to continue its three-week offensive until the soldier is freed and militants stop firing rockets into Israel.
It has refused Hamas demands that it free Palestinian prisoners in return for Shalit, a 19-year-old tank gunner.