Israeli tanks opened fire on a Palestinian security building at the Karni crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Sunday, injuring at least four Palestinians, witnesses and hospital officials said.
Israel sent some 15 tanks and other armored vehicles into the area to open a road to the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, firing with 50 mm heavy machine-guns, witnesses said.
Palestinians returned fire with assault rifles from the security post, which had been largely cleared after the Israeli tanks fired warning shots.
One of the four injured was a Palestinian policeman, hospital officials said, adding that another six Palestinians were wounded in earlier clashes.
A correspondent for Israeli public radio at the scene said four tanks and armored cars entered the Karni terminal and opened fire to clear the road, which had been blocked by some 400 stone-throwing Palestinian demonstrators.
The radio said the tanks moved in to allow several Jewish settlers held up at Karni to return to Netzarim, one of the key trouble spots during the month-long street battles that have raged across the Palestinian territories.
Karni, the main crossing point for trucks carrying supplies from Israel to Gaza, was reopened on October 19 after being shut some two weeks earlier because of the explosion of violence.
However, the main terminal of Erez at the north of the Gaza Strip remains shut and a blockade on the Palestinians imposed on October 6 is still in force -- KARNI CROSSING POINT, Gaza Strip (AFP)
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