HAMAS, ISRAEL ENGAGE IN HEAVY FIGHTING IN GAZA GAZA CITY — Israel and the Hamas regime have engaged in some of the heaviest fighting over the last year in the Gaza Strip.

At least 22 Palestinians, most of them Hamas combatants, were killed in Israeli ground and air strikes around Gaza City over the last 24 hours. The fighting on Tuesday and Wednesday was accompanied by Hamas missile and sniper fire into Israel.

"Al Kassam Brigades announced that it fired 75 mortars, three rocket-propelled grenades, five Kassam rockets at the Zionist forces and clashed with the Zionist warplanes," the Hamas military wing said on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Palestinian gunners fired more than 30 Kassam-class missiles from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad, whose commander was killed by Israeli troops, claimed responsibility.

Palestinian sources said one of the casualties was the son of former Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Azhar. The 22-year-old Hussam, the second son of Azhar killed in an Israeli operation, was said to have been a Hamas combatant.

Israeli military sources said the high casualty count did not reflect a new policy against the Hamas regime. They said the military was not planning a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip.

"IDF forces including infantry and the armored corps, with the assistance of the air force, operated in the northern Gaza Strip in order to distance terrorist organizations from the security fence, and in order to prevent Kassam rocket and mortar shell launchings into Israel," the Israeli military said on Tuesday. "Over 15 Palestinian gunmen were hit during the operation."

Palestinian snipers killed a foreign volunteer in an Israeli community near the Gaza Strip. Later, gunners fired missiles into the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, causing injuries and damage.