Clashes and violence reported in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza (CNN) -- Israelis and Palestinians clashed in a number of Gaza towns and refugee camps late Sunday as Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers cut off the southern entrance to Gaza City, Palestinian sources said.

The Israeli tanks and APCs were at Netzarim crossing, halting traffic into and out of Gaza City, in an operation focused on central Gaza, the sources and witnesses said.

About 50 Israeli tanks, APCs and bulldozers also surrounded the three central Gaza refugee camps of Nuseirat, Maghazi, and Al-Bureij, as well as the Palestinian town of Dir al-Balah, the sources and witnesses said. About 150,000 people live in the town and camps.

The sources reported clashes taking place in Khan Yunis, a refugee camp in southern Gaza, and in Rafah, on Gaza's border with Egypt. The sources said other clashes were taking place south of Gaza City.

The Israel Defense Forces also reported violence throughout Gaza, saying Palestinians fired a mortar bomb toward an Israeli settlement in Gush Katif, a block of Jewish settlements between Rafah and Khan Yunis. The IDF said there were no injuries or damage.

The IDF also said Palestinian gunmen opened fire and threw grenades toward an IDF post on the Egyptian border near Rafah, and that Palestinian gunmen opened fire toward an IDF post near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom, on the edge of Dir al-Balah.

Israeli sources returned fire, the IDF said, adding there were no injuries from either incident.

In Gaza City, an Israeli military source said, there was a "pinpoint targeted operation," but no reoccupation of settlements was planned.

Earlier Sunday, Palestinian sources and witnesses said Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers made an incursion into the Palestinian town of Dir al-Balah. The tanks left the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom and knocked out electricity in Dir al-Balah, and there was heavy fire, the sources and witnesses said.

Thursday, an Israeli soldier was killed in central Gaza and two others were wounded when "an explosive device was activated" under an Israeli tank, according to the IDF. The same day, an Israeli army officer was killed in northern Gaza and another soldier was wounded when a Palestinian gunman opened fire on them.