Palestinian schoolboys stand in front of a destroyed apartment building after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Zeitoun

 GAZA CITY, May 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israeli forces killed 16 Palestinians in fresh air strikes on Rafah on Thursday, May 13, as bodies of four Palestinians were found after the occupation troops pulled out of  Gaza City after a two-day incursion. 

An Israeli helicopter early on Thursday fired two missiles that struck a crowd of Palestinians in Rafah refugee camp in southern  Gaza strip, killing at least seven Palestinians, witnesses told Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The Israeli army claimed the target was a group of fighters planting bombs and firing at soldiers who had swept into the densely-populated camp, the paper said.

The Rafah refugee camp was pounded by a second Israeli helicopter strike later Thursday, killing three people and wounding at least 15 others, Palestinian medical source said.

Two missiles were fired, which also left 15 people wounded, Rafah hospital director Ali Mussa told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Four Bodies

In the meantime, bodies of four Palestinians were found as Israeli occupation forces began withdrawal from the Zeitoun neighborhood, two days after an incursion that left 16 Palestinians killed, Aljazeera said on its website.

The Israeli forces had demolished buildings and burst into homes in the densely populated neighborhood, backed up by snipers on rooftops and Apache helicopters hovering overhead.

Navy gunboats shelled the coast and opened fire on an area near Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's old compound.

The latest deaths brought to 4,016 the number of people killed since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000, including 3,027 Palestinians and 916 Israelis.

Deal clinched

The pullout from Zeitoun came shortly after two Palestinian officials and an Egyptian diplomat handed over the remains of six soldiers killed in Gaza City to Israel at the Erez border crossing.

"The Israeli side has received the box containing the remains of the soldiers' bodies," one official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

There was no official confirmation from the Israeli side, with an army spokeswoman saying "we will not be commenting on this issue".

Rashid Abu Shbak, the Gaza Strip Preventive Security Chief, and Ribhi Arafat, head of Gaza 's district coordination office, traveled with the Egyptian diplomat to the border crossing for the handover.

Six Israeli soldiers  were killed by the Palestinian resistance fighters during the incursion on Tuesday, the highest Israeli casualty count in a single army operation in two years.

On Wednesday, May 12, at least five Israeli soldiers were killed when their armored personnel carrier was destroyed in the area.