'Dozens of tanks' roll into Gaza

Gaza City - Witnesses and Palestinian security sources say about 50 Israeli tanks have rolled into the Gaza city of Rafah near the Egyptian border.

At least five houses were destroyed and five people were wounded during the operation late Thursday.

The sources said Israeli Apache helicopters flew overhead and sprayed machine gun fire into homes and at the streets of the city.

The tanks went into the center of the city as well as the refugee camp there, they said.

Palestinian hospital sources said five people were wounded, one seriously. Bulldozers and other vehicles accompanied the tanks into the city, the witnesses and security sources said, and Israeli military jets flew overhead.

At least one of the homes is believed to be owned by a Fatah activist, the sources said.

The Israel Defense Forces could not be reached for comment. The IDF has a policy not to comment on ongoing operations.

Earlier, the Palestinian Legislative Council postponed a vote of confidence after legislators were unable to decide whether to back Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei and other members of a newly formed emergency cabinet.

After the postponement of the vote, Qorei held what was described by sources as a stormy session with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

Asked if he had threatened to resign, a clearly angry Qorei told reporters he would not comment on speculation about his future and walked away.

Sources in the council said legislators are trying to reach a consensus on how to go forward -- whether to approve the emergency cabinet headed by Qorei or wait for him to form an expanded cabinet.

On Sunday -- following a Saturday suicide bombing in Haifa that killed 19 Israelis -- Arafat issued an emergency decree that allows him to form a cabinet without the approval of the PLC. It can be in effect for 30 days.

He also authorized Qorei's position as prime minister without the council's approval -- which Arafat may do under emergency law but not under normal procedures.

Council members said that although an emergency government has only a 30-day term, several lawmakers said they feared Arafat would simply keep renewing the emergency degree, cutting the PLC out of the process entirely.

Other legislators were arguing that a vote of confidence should wait until Qorei had time to name a full slate of ministers, expected to be 24 in all.

The failure of the Legislative Council to vote left the position of Qorei and his cabinet unclear.

Qorei had said he was working behind the scenes on a new Palestinian cease-fire which his government intended to declare. He said he hoped Israel would reciprocate.

The first Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas resigned on September 6.

Abbas, who said he would not serve as a figurehead, was at odds with Arafat during the four months he was in office over the ability to control portions of the Palestinian security force that Arafat kept under his command.

But in his resignation, Abbas blamed "Israel's unwillingness to implement its road map commitments and to undertake any constructive measures" in an effort to reach a peace.

Also on Thursday, a suicide bomber set off a blast at the District Coordinating Office near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, the Israel Defense Forces said, killing himself and wounding three other people.

The District Coordinating Office is used by Palestinians to obtain travel permits.

It also serves as a contact point where Israelis and Palestinians can coordinate a number of activities, including the movement of humanitarian aid.

An IDF spokesman said the bomber took advantage of the fact that Palestinian civilians are normally in the area to approach the office and set off the blast. -- CNN News

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