Pat Dollard | Young Americans

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip- Israeli troops backed by tanks and bulldozers crossed into southern Gaza to strike at Palestinian militants on Thursday, a day after Israel’s defense minister said a broad operation inside the territory was inevitable. Three militants were killed and 12 people were wounded in the fiercest clash.

Israel’s Security Cabinet on Wednesday rejected calls for a large- scale Gaza invasion. But the government is under mounting public pressure to stop the crude Palestinian rockets that fall daily in southern Israel—including a projectile that struck the yard of a nursery school earlier this week.

No one was hurt in that attack, but images of panicking parents rushing to collect their children from school have prompted renewed calls for government action.

Early Thursday, troops and vehicles crossed into Gaza in what the army called a routine operation against militants. The sides provided conflicting reports of a deadly showdown in the southern town of Khan Younis.

The army said troops inside Gaza opened fire at a group of militants who approached them, sparking an exchange of fire. Gaza’s Hamas rulers said militants were targeted either by an Israeli tank shell or missile fire from the air. And Dr. Muawiya Hassanin of the Palestinian Health Ministry reported shrapnel wounds consistent with heavy artillery fire.

Ten militants were among the wounded, Hamas said.

In lieu of a large-scale invasion of Gaza, Israel’s Security Cabinet threatened on Wednesday to cut water, electricity and fuel supplies to the strip. Later in the day, however, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told a gathering of top defense officials that “there is recognition that in the end, Israel will have to operate inside the Gaza Strip,” participants at the meeting said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was confidential.

Israel has mounted such operations in the past, with casualties on both sides, but the large-scale military strikes have failed to quell the rocket fire.

Israel’s Cabinet is to further discuss options at its next meeting.

Vice Premier Haim Ramon, who first floated the idea of cutting off fuel and electricity, said the takeover of Gaza in June by Islamic Hamas militants sworn to Israel’s destruction has turned the strip into an “enemy country,” and Israel has no obligation to help.

“Imagine if al-Qaida took over Gaza,” Ramon said. “Would anybody suggest we provide them with infrastructure?”

Cutting off vital supplies could cause widespread suffering and would likely bring harsh international condemnation.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said his group was “looking with great concern at this serious and dangerous Israeli threat,” which he termed “a new escalation against our people.”

Parents in the rocket-scarred Israeli town of Sderot kept their children home again Thursday, demanding better protection. About 250 Sderot residents demonstrated Wednesday across from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office during the Security Cabinet meeting, demanding that he resign.

Also Thursday, a Palestinian policeman was shot dead by gunmen in the northern West Bank town on Jenin. Police said Akram Abu Sba, 40, was shot in the chest by members of the Islamic Jihad militant group after he stopped their car for a routine check. Police fired back, injuring two of the passengers.

The moderate government led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been trying to establish its authority in the West Bank since Hamas’ Gaza takeover and crack down on lawlessness.