Israeli air strike kills four Gaza militants

BEIT HANOUN, Gaza, Nov 3 (Reuters) An Israeli air strike today killed four Palestinian militants in Gaza intensifying violence as the army pushes on with one of its biggest offensives in the strip in months.

With the latest attack, 20 Palestinians have been killed, more than half of them militants, since Israeli troops entered the northern Gazan town of Beit Hanoun on Wednesday. One Israeli soldier has been killed in the operation.

Hamas sources said a vehicle carrying four members belonging to an elite unit of the group's armed wing was targeted by the missile in Gaza City.

An Israeli military source confirmed an ''aerial attack on a vehicle carrying terrorists''.

Ammar Mushtaha, a Hamas commander who had survived previous assassination attempts, was among the four killed, as well as bodyguard for one of the ministers in the Hamas-led government.

The offensive in northern Gaza, partly to try to halt militant rocket attacks on Israel, has further weakened any chance of peace talks, already minimal since Hamas won elections.

Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction.

Israeli troops also exchanged fire with 60 Palestinian gunmen holed up in inside a mosque in the centre of Beit Hanoun.

Witnesses said Israeli bulldozers had demolished a wall of the mosque, adding troops fired stun grenades and teargas to try to force the gunmen to surrender. An Israeli military source said some militants had given themselves up.

The gunmen included militants involved in rocket attacks, the source said, adding: ''We are using every means not to damage the mosque.'' Residents said Beit Hanoun, a town of 30,000 people, was effectively under an army curfew and in its control.

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