GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Hamas threatened revenge Monday, after 14 Palestinians were killed in the deadliest Israeli raid in Gaza in 17 months — part of an upsurge in bloodshed linked to a proposed Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip.
Among the dead were 11 militants and three boys between the ages of 8 and 15, and 81 people were wounded. The fighting near the Bureij refugee camp Sunday pitted hundreds of Palestinians with assault rifles, anti-tank missiles and grenade launchers against Israeli snipers and troops firing from helicopters and tanks.
In new fighting Monday, a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed by army fire.
The spike of violence in Gaza — two recent Israeli air strikes and a complex attack on an Israeli army post by militants — came weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (search) said he would withdraw from most of the strip if peace efforts remained stuck.
Each side now seems to be positioning itself to claim withdrawal as a victory — Israel by pounding the militants hard before a pullout, and the armed groups by stepping up attacks to create the impression they are chasing the Israelis out.
Sunday's raid of the Bureij camp appeared mainly aimed at drawing out militants; troops found no weapons and made no arrests.
Alon Ben-David, military commentator for Israel TV's Channel 10, said the purpose of such raids is to "kill as many armed Palestinians as possible."
"It's a ritual in which everything is pre-planned. The army goes in, stations its snipers, then a convoy of armored vehicles moves in," Ben-David told Israel Army Radio. "The Palestinians don't see the snipers, they begin to fire on armored vehicles, and then they get hit."
Israeli military officials said the raid was meant to put the militants on the defensive and prevent them from carrying out attacks on Israelis. However, the Gaza Strip is fenced in, and no Palestinian from Gaza has managed to sneak away to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel in 41 months of fighting.
The only exception came in April 2003 when two British Muslims, who were given their instructions in Gaza, crossed into Israel and one blew himself up in a Tel Aviv pub, killing three Israelis and wounding 50.
The Islamic militant group Hamas on Monday belatedly claimed responsibility for that attack, after initially denying involvement, presumably to signal to Israel that despite logistical problems, it could launch bombings from Gaza.
Hamas said the pub bombing was a message to Israel that the group "has many options to fight against you as long as you are occupying your land and committing massacres against our people."
Hamas also released a farewell video in which one of the Britons, Asif Hanif, 21, from London suburb, launched into a tirade in English against Israel and what he said was a world indifferent to Palestinian suffering.
Sunday's army raid prompted some debate among the armed groups on whether to continue engaging the Israelis despite their superior firepower.
In the event of an incursion, mosque loudspeakers routinely broadcast calls to gunmen to confront Israeli troops, and Sunday was no exception, with hundreds of armed men rushing to the edge of the Bureij camp. Eleven of the 14 killed were gunmen, including nine from Hamas.
Mohammed al-Hindi, a leader of the Islamic Jihad (search) group, said it was time to change tactics. "The Palestinian people are now uniting in the trenches of resistance, but we also call on the sons of the resistance not to be dragged into battles forced upon us by the (Israeli) occupation," al-Hindi said.
In the Rafah refugee camp, which has been frequently targeted by Israeli troops, gunmen have scaled back their activities in recent weeks, in an apparent effort to preserve strength and cut down on casualties.
Sunday's raid was the deadliest in Gaza since October 2002, when 19 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli operation in the Khan Younis refugee camp.
In the past week, Israeli helicopter gunships have struck twice, killing six militants and a boy in missile attacks in Gaza City. On Saturday, three militant groups staged an elaborate attack on the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel, in which six Palestinians were killed in explosions and exchanges of fire.
The Palestinian Authority denounced the Israeli raid as "state terrorism." Avi Pazner, an Israeli government spokesman, said such raids help save Israeli lives.
In a related development, President Hosni Mubarak (search) of Egypt said his country would not contribute to security in the Gaza Strip after any Israeli withdrawal, saying that was the job of Palestinians.
In the interview published Monday in the French daily Le Figaro, Mubarak brushed aside a suggestion reportedly raised by an Israeli official that Egyptians could play a role in maintaining security in Gaza.
"It is a trap because we would find ourselves in a situation of confrontation with the Palestinians," Mubarak was quoted as saying. "And if there were a problem, we could even find ourselves in conflict with the Israelis."
In Gaza meanwhile, a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire near the Gaza town of Khan Younis, hospital doctors said. The youth was driving a tractor on the family farm when he was hit in the back by a large-caliber bullet, doctors said. The firing was preceded by a sporadic exchange of fire between Palestinian gunmen and soldiers in the area. The Israeli military said it was checking the report.
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