Israeli strike on Gaza kills eight.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

Israeli troops killed seven Palestinians and wounded 40 others today in one of the country's largest strikes against militants since it reinvaded Gaza Strip four months ago.

An Israeli soldier was also killed in the operation in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, which the army described as a major staging ground for Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.

Israeli officials suggested the operation would last days, and did not represent a widening of the overall Israeli campaign in Gaza.

Infantry, tanks and aircraft pummeled Beit Hanoun from before dawn. At least six of the dead were militants, and the seventh was not immediately identified. Palestinian hospital officials also reported at least 40 people were wounded. Most were gunmen, but a woman and an 11-year-old boy were also hurt, they said.

Even as the offensive in Beit Hanoun continued, eight homemade rockets fired from northern Gaza landed in Israel, the army said. No one was seriously injured. Hamas said it had no intention of stopping rocket attacks.

Israel, which evacuated Gaza in September 2005, reinvaded the coastal strip to try to recover a soldier captured in June by militants linked to the Palestinians' ruling Hamas party.