8 Palestinians killed in IDF raid

     At least eight Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip on Thursday morning and early afternoon as IDF troops continue to operate on the ground a few kilometers inside the strip, including in built-up areas, against Palestinian gunmen. Three gunmen were hit in an airstrike Thursday when they approached soldiers in the Mugazi area. An initial fierce gunbattle drew in IDF tanks and bulldozers, and sent militants clambering to rooftops and laying mines. The IDF said the shootout began after IAF craft backing troops on a routine patrol about 1 kilometer inside the Gaza Strip identified militants approaching the soldiers. The troops opened fire with machine guns, sparking return fire from the militants and an eventual shootout on the ground, the IDF said. According to the military spokesman, dozens of gunmen were hit Thursday. The IDF operations are centred in areas from where mortars have been fired over recent days. Palestinians reported that at least 15 tanks and bulldozers were levelling farmland near Jebalya in the northern part of the strip.Palestinian ambulance worker Azmi Abu Dalal said IDF forces seized him and several of his colleagues when they tried to evacuate a wounded Palestinian from a security post Hamas gunmen had been using and which the army took over. Abu Dalal said soldiers took them to a nearby house and then used them as human shields to exit the area. "We stayed in their custody for three hours," the medic said. The IDF spokeswoman said she was checking the report. Israeli law bans the army from using human shields. (16,15)