ARABS-ISRAEL - March 17 - Violence Continues.

Nine Palestinians, including a 4-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy, are killed during Israeli incursions in the Gaza Strip - in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and around the town of Beit Lehiya in the north. Israeli infantry in armoured personnel carriers, backed by several tanks and attack helicopters, rolled into Nuseirat, a Hamas stronghold, before dawn and left several hours later after demolishing a house. Islamic Jihad local leader Mohammad a-Sa'afin took to the roof of his home after Israeli special forces surrounded it. An Israeli officer shouted at him: "Give up, think of your children". But Sa'afin replied with pipe bombs and a volley of bullets from his Kalashnikov rifle. He was shot dead. Palestinian witnesses and hospital officials said six other Palestinians were killed during the fighting. At least 12 people were wounded. Army sources said the aim of the operation was to detain militants behind attacks on Israelis. In an operation near Beit Lehiya in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli forces killed two members of the Palestinian naval police. The army said it exchanged fire with militants during a search for "terror cells". An explosion in a garage in the West Bank village of Saida killed two Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members. The cause of the blast was not immediately known. At least 1,941 Palestinians and 726 Israelis have been killed since the uprising began in late-Sept. 2000.