Palestinians say Israeli tanks hit car with Al-Jezeera reporters

Israel shelled the northern Gaza beach early Thursday, Palestinian witnesses said, and five officers from the Palestinian coastal police were wounded. Palestinian security officials said the target was apparently a coastal police station.

Photo: Palestinians say Israeli tanks hit car with Al-Jezeera reporters

It was unclear where the shells came from Palestinian officials said either Israeli navy gunboats or Israeli tanks fired the shells. The military said the navy did not open fire.

Israel has been massing troops across from northern Gaza, and some moved across the border in what appeared to be the start of an operation to create a buffer zone there to move Israeli cities out of Palestinian rocket range, reports AP.

"Given the abduction and continued ballistic salvoes, including the (rocket) launched at Ashkelon, the rules of the game in dealing with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas must be changed," a statement from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said before the latest launching.

Witnesses said several Israeli tanks had already pushed into northern Gaza to the site of a former Jewish settlement of Elei Sinai from where the first rocket was fired.

Political sources said Olmert was considering establishing a buffer zone in northern Gaza to halt the rocket fire, reports Reuters.