Israel continued an incursion into Gaza on Thursday which has killed 12 Palestinians and a soldier in little over a day in one of its largest operations since militants seized a soldier in June.
Four Palestinians, including a 70-year-old man and two militants, were killed by Israeli fire on Thursday in the northern town of Beit Hanun, which was reoccupied by Israeli forces when they launched Operation Autumn Clouds early on Wednesday, medics said.
Two Israeli helicopters hovered above the town on Thursday as smoke rose from several buildings amid sporadic machine gun fire and explosions.
In an Arabic-language radio broadcast, the army urged residents to stay indoors: "The IDF (Israel Defence Force) has entered Beit Hanun and asks all
the inhabitants to stay at home until further notice," it said.
Many residents were heeding the warnings.
"We haven't moved from here for two days," said Abu Luay Zaanin from his home on the outskirts of town. "They are shooting at anything that moves."
In all, 12 Palestinians, including seven militants, and an Israeli soldier have been killed in the operation. More than 60 people, including three women and 10 children, have been wounded.
Overnight the army carried out an air raid and detained three militants in Beit Hanun, which Israeli officials said had become a launch pad for militants firing rockets into the Jewish state.
General Yoav Galand told army radio that "our aim is to apply permanent pressure on the terrorists to make the firing of rockets more difficult".
But the incursion by infantry units, backed up by tanks and air support, has failed to stop the rocket fire. Three more hit Israeli territory on Thursday, lightly wounding two people, after eight were fired on Wednesday when one person was slightly wounded.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and the head of the Islamist-led government, prime minister Ismail Haniya, both condemned the new Israeli offensive on Wednesday, describing it as a "massacre".
On Thursday, Abbas called on Israel's most powerful ally, the United States, to intervene to stop the operation.
During a meeting at his Ramallah office with US assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs David Welch, Abbas "demanded that the American administration intervene to stop this aggression," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told reporters.
The chairman of Israeli parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee, Tzahi Hanegbi, said Israel had launched the operation having learned the lessons of this summer's war with Hizbullah in Lebanon.
"What happened with Hizbullah has taught us that to wait for years without doing anything can cost us dearly," Hanegbi, a close ally of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, told army radio.
In recent weeks, Israeli officials have repeatedly accused Gaza-based militants of smuggling weapons from Egypt via tunnels and warned that the army could launch a massive operation to stem the flow.
"A war with Hamas is inevitable, it has to be prepared for," Hanegbi said.
Hamas's armed wing was one of three militant groups that claimed responsibility for a June 25 raid in which two soldiers were killed and a third, Corporal Gilad Shalit, was captured.
Israeli officials have repeatedly said that despite their punishing four-month offensive, which has left more than 270 Palestinians and three soldiers dead, they have no intention of reoccupying the Gaza Strip following last year's withdrawal of troops and settlers after a 38-year occupation.
Amid the fighting, two senior US officials held meetings in the region in a bid to relaunch the moribund peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians.
In addition to Welch, the director of US national intelligence, John Negroponte, was due to meet with Meir Dagan, the head of the Mossad overseas intelligence agency, after closed-door talks with other Israeli officials, public radio said.