ISRAELI TROOPS AND HAMAS GUNMEN CLASHED INSIDE SOUTHERN GAZA ON SATURDAY IN ONE OF THE WORST EXCHANGES OF FIRE SINCE ISRAELI FORCES LAUNCHED AN ASSAULT TO FREE A SOLDIER ABDUCTED BY PALESTINIAN MILITANTS, REUTERS REPORTED. GUNMEN FROM THE ARMED WING OF THE RULING HAMAS MOVEMENT SAID THEY HIT AN ISRAELI TANK WITH TWO ROCKET-PROPELLED GRENADES NEAR THE TOWN OF KHAN YOUNIS. AN ISRAELI ARMY SPOKESWOMAN SAID: "AN ANTI-TANK MISSILE WAS FIRED AT A BULLDOZER. THE FORCE RESPONDED WITH GUNFIRE." THE SPOKESWOMAN SAID EXCHANGES OF FIRE WITH GUNMEN CONTINUED, ADDING THERE WERE NO REPORTS OF CASUALTIES. SHE SAID THERE WERE A NUMBER OF ISRAELI TANKS IN THE AREA TO BACK UP TROOPS. SOLDIERS BACKED BY TANKS HAD EARLIER SKIRMISHED WITH GUNMEN IN THE AREA, WOUNDING ONE PALESTINIAN, WITNESSES SAID.
