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Gaza militants flee siege by hiding among women

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GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Palestinian militants who had been in a firefight with Israeli soldiers escaped Friday, many of them slipping away in a crowd of women who had come to join what had begun as a standoff.

Israeli troops fired into the crowd, and there were reports of civilian casualties.

The gunmen had sought cover at a northern Gaza mosque for hours, mingling with a crowd of Palestinian women who had formed a human shield outside, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Palestinian sources said some of the militants had put on women's clothes.

The number and identities of those killed and wounded remained unclear Friday amid conflicting reports. (Watch women flee the gunfire and one fall dead -- 1:54 )

An IDF spokesman said the troops fired on the women because two of the militants were hiding among the group. He said both men were killed.

U.N. officials, including Secretary-General Kofi Annan, called the "already-grave situation" a result of "the continuing escalation of violence and rising death toll caused by the Israeli military operation in northern Gaza."

"Military operations in populated areas inevitably cause civilian casualties, and in this operation several civilians have already been killed and wounded, including women and at least one Palestinian child," Annan said in a prepared statement.

Annan urged Israel "to exercise maximum restraint" and do its "utmost to protect civilians."

He also urged "Palestinian militants to stop firing rockets against Israeli civilian targets."

Palestinian medical sources said two women, age 45 and 50, who were demonstrating at the mosque, were killed.

Palestinian security sources earlier reported one woman was killed and 10 were wounded.

Israeli daily Haaretz reported that witnesses said a 40-year-old woman was killed and several other women were wounded when the IDF opened fire on the group, which had served as human shields to enable the gunmen to slip out of the mosque.

Israeli forces said they eventually entered the mosque and found no gunmen inside.

The Ramattan News Agency, based in Gaza City, said a member of its reporting crew at the scene, Hamza Al-Atar, was wounded by an Israeli sniper.

The fighting began overnight Thursday when a number of wanted militants inside the mosque opened fire on Israeli forces surrounding it, the IDF said.

Women gathered at the site shortly after a call on Hamas radio urged women and children to protest outside the mosque in Beit Hanoun, the IDF said.

Intense fighting eventually broke out between the militants and IDF troops, and heavy gunfire and grenades caused the roof of the mosque to collapse, an IDF spokesman said.

Military operations intensified in Gaza

This latest violence comes three days after Israel intensified its military operations in Gaza. Since the June 25 cross-border capture of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-linked Palestinian militants, Israel has launched many raids.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Wednesday said Israel's latest military operation had a "military purpose" and was not just a "show operation."

But Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas characterized Israel's operation in Beit Hanoun as a "massacre" and a "crime against the Palestinian people."

He called for Israel to immediately stop the operation.

Palestinian medical sources reported Friday that 25 Palestinians had been killed since Israel's operation in Beit Hanoun began on Wednesday.

Also on Friday eight people, including some civilians, died in four Israeli airstrikes in Palestinian-controlled Gaza -- three in Beit Lahiya and one in Rafah -- Palestinian security sources said.

The second of the three strikes in Beit Lahiya killed a commander of the Saluhuddin Brigade, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, the sources said. The Saluhuddin Brigade is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel.

The third strike killed six people, including two emergency nurses, and the fourth strike targeted a vehicle in Rafah and left one militant dead, the sources said.

The IDF confirmed the four airstrikes but said three were in the area of Beit Hanoun, which is near Beit Lahiya.

The first airstrike targeted militants who planted an explosive device near Israeli troops, the IDF said, and a second targeted a group of militants that earlier had been firing rockets.

The third strike also targeted a group of rocket launchers, according to the IDF, and the fourth strike in Rafah targeted a vehicle carrying Hamas members who earlier had been firing rockets.

The IDF confirmed hitting the targets but could not comment on any casualties.

CNN's Ari Bell and Michal Zippori contributed to this story.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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