GAZA CITY - " A fierce gunbattle broke out early on Tuesday between Islamic Jihad fighters and the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, witnesses and the radical Palestinian group said. Medical sources said one member of the Islamic Jihad had been taken to hospital with serious injuries. The Al-Quds Brigades (Islamic Jihad's armed wing) said Israeli soldiers were among the injured. The Israeli army deployed a helicopter and anti-tank shells, witnesses said. The zone where the fighting broke out near the al-Bourij refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip had been completely cordoned off. Israel has defended a new policy that critics said could allow the Israeli military to expel tens of thousands of Palestinians from their own homes. The military policy now stipulates that all Palestinians in the occupied West Bank not carrying what Israel deems a valid identity card can be classified as "infiltrators", and as such, could face deportation or up to seven years in prison. The Israeli military order does not specify what would be accepted as valid identification. In another development, American and Israeli officials believed that Syria has transferred long and medium range surface-to-surface Scud missiles to Hizbollah which could target most of Israel's territory, the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper reported. This could explain recent tensions on the northern border. According to the report, which is based on American sources in Washington, Israeli and Western intelligence services have discovered that the Syrian army has been training Hizbollah operatives on how to operate a line of missiles from Syria's weapons arsenal including anti-aircraft and medium-long range Scud missiles. The US sources told the paper that Israel has warned Syria, via Turkey and Qatar, of its intention to bomb Lebanese and Syrian targets should the missiles cross the border and reach Hizbollah. The Syrian Ambassador to Washington was summoned for a talk.
