IDF battalion commander, two troops lightly wounded in Gaza fighting

An Israel Defense Force battalion commander and two other soldiers were lightly wounded in separate incidents during fighting in Gaza on day 20 of Israel's campaign against Hamas in the coastal territory.

Lt. Col. Yoav Mordechai was serving as the commander of the Golani infantry brigade's 13th Battalion. He took over the position last week after his predecessor Oren Cohen was moderately wounded in a "friendly fire" incident during which three Israeli soldiers were killed.

In another incident, two IDF soldiers from the Givati infantry brigade were lightly wounded near Gaza City.

IDF troops backed by helicopter gunships and tanks on Thursday thrust further into Gaza City than ever before, seeking out Hamas gunmen and carrying out the army's most relentless shelling in Gaza yet.

Channel 10 television reported Thursday evening that troops were operating in the heart of the city, and had taken control of three of its neighborhoods. The television posed the question whether this could in fact be the delayed third stage of the IDF operation in Gaza.

Live video footage from a Reuters camera in central Gaza showed sustained artillery fire from the edge of the city for several hours during the day. Shells exploded in downtown areas and long machine-gun bursts echoed off Gaza's cramped housing blocks.

Much of the fighting was centered in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, where some residents fled on foot while others remained in the precarious shelter of their homes as a night-time attack stretched into the morning.

Tanks and bulldozers rolled into a neighborhood park, apparently seizing it as a kind of command center, witnesses said. Masked gunmen ran toward the areas under fire carrying bags containing unidentified objects.

Residents were seen fleeing their homes in pajamas, some wheeling elderly parents in wheelchairs. Others were stopping journalists' armored cars or ambulances pleading for someone to take them to safety.

Israeli forces have encircled the city of 500,000 people for days. Tanks have made forays towards the center to test the resistance of Hamas and other militant groups but have balked at launching all-out urban warfare in Gaza City, where Hamas militants are more familiar with the lay of the land and Israeli casualties would be liable to spiral.

IAF planes struck some 70 targets overnight, including weapons positions, rocket squads and a mosque in southern Gaza that it said served as an arsenal, the military said.

Seven Palestinians were killed overnight, medical officials said.

In an effort to keep the death toll from ballooning further, Egypt was pressing both sides to accept a 10-day truce instead of a comprehensive accord to end the conflict.