30, for the first time in four years of fighting, after two Israeli children were killed by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants.
At least 21 Palestinians and three Israelis, including a woman jogging in a Jewish settlement and two soldiers, were killed in the fighting that accompanied the Israeli tank invasion in the Jabalya camp in Gaza, news reports said.
The Associated Press (AP) said 108 Palestinians, both civilians and militants, were also wounded, the highest single-day Palestinian casualty count in four months.
Clashes have intensified in Gaza after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged to root out "terrorism" ahead of his planned pull out of Jewish settlers from the area next year.
The withdrawal plan has been criticized within his own party. Analysts say Sharon wants to make sure militants will not be able to claim the Israeli pull-out as a victory.
The latest fighting came as Israel Army Radio said the Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz decided after consultations with army commanders Thursday to widen the military campaign and send more troops to Gaza. Sharon has ordered more troops into the area in an effort to stop the constant bombardment of mortars into the settlements, the Voice of America (VOA) and other news sources reported.
AP quoted witnesses as saying that bulldozers demolished 15 homes along a relatively narrow road leading into the camp apparently to widen it and allow more tanks to get through. Armored vehicles avoided the booby-trapped main street in the area.
"A bulldozer entered our living room and demolished half the house," AP quoted Hussein al-Jamal, a resident of the camp’s Block 2, as saying. He and his family fled, along with many of his neighbors, the news agency reported.
ROCKET ATTACK
On Wednesday, Hamas militants fired a rocket at the Israeli border town of Sderot despite the massive army presence, killing two children, ages 2 and 4.
The children were killed as they played on a sidewalk at the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which is frequently translated as the "Feast of Tabernacles" a reference to temporary dwellings where the Bible says Jewish people were commanded to live in during this holiday.
It was not clear what effect the latest fighting had on the 25th annual Feast of Tabernacles organized by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), a Christian organization supporting the right of Israel to exist within Biblical borders as well the emigration of Jews to the Holy Land.
Up to 5,000 Christians from over 100 countries have come up to Jerusalem each year, "regardless of the current political climate to stand with Israel", the ICEJ said.
The event has become the largest and most popular annual tourist event in Israel, taking place in the International Convention Center Jerusalem and other venues across Jerusalem, the ICEJ and Israeli officials have said.
Among those expected to attend was Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and Regent University as well as the author of 14 books, and Prime Minister Sharon, as a special guest.
