Jerusalem: Eleven Palestinians were killed and 140 injured, when Israeli tanks and troops backed by helicopters raided a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, hours after a suicide bomb blast killed 15 people and wounded over 50 Israelis in Northern Haifa town.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) operations in the refugee camp of Jabalya began after midnight on March 5 and continued till March 6 morning, Israeli media reported.

About 40 armoured vehicles accompanied by helicopter gunships carried out the raid, they said.

Reports from territories quoted Palestinians accusing Israelis of firing into a crowd. The Israeli Army said an explosive device planted by Palestinians near an armoured vehicle went off and caused some of the deaths.

A senior IDF officer involved in the Jabalya operation told Army Radio that the majority of Palestinian casualties resulted from an explosive device that went off inside a building, and only a short time later did the tank fire a shell at a man spotted with an RPG rocket, and hit him.

"The tank shells that were fired were aimed at a terrorist attempting to fire RPG rockets at IDF forces and after the terrorist holed himself up in a structure next to the building," the officer said.

While Palestinians said Israel raided Gaza In retaliation for the Haifa attack, Israeli officials said the Army operation was part of its ongoing campaign against terror and had been already planned.

Two Israeli soldiers and two journalists working with the Reuters news agency were injured during the operation, reports added.

PTI