Five killed as tanks enter Gaza

Five Palestinians were killed and 33 wounded as tanks entered Gaza City for the first time in 17 months of conflict early this morning, signalling a "new course for the war on terror."

The foray into Gaza City coincided with reports by Palestinians that five people were killed in Israeli operations in Gaza, and in the West Bank towns of Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilyah and Ramallah overnight.

The tanks rumbled into Sejaieh neighbourhood, which straddles the main north-south road through the Gaza Strip, and approached Beach camp, a sprawling refugee complex.

The violence looks set to intensify as the Israeli security-cabinet vowed to step up military operations. A spokesman said: " The gloves are off now."

This sentiment was echoed by Danny Ayalon, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's foreign policy adviser, who warned the army might resort to "many more operations, with deeper penetration, sometimes with a larger scale on a local basis."