AL-KHALIL -- The Israeli occupation army on Sunday attacked Palestinian residential areas in the northern Gaza Strip, killing at least 6 civilians, including a 8-year-old school child, IRNA reported.

Palestinian sources said thousands of Israeli troops, backed by tanks and attack helicopters, rampaged through Beit Haun, a northern outskirts of Gaza, amid intensive machine gunfire.

Eyewitnesses said crack soldiers opened fire indiscriminately on Palestinian school children and youngsters, killing four boys and injuring as many as 25 others.

Palestinian sources said they expected the number of casualties to rise as ambulances and paramedics were barred from reaching the injured after Israeli bulldozers closed the main intersections with huge mounds of earth and sand.

The invading forces, which imposed a curfew on Beit Hanun, also destroyed as many as six homes and ravaged street curbstones and roundabouts.

The new victims of Israel's campaign of murder and terror brings to 38 the number of Palestinians killed since 15 February.

The Israeli Defense Minister Shaoul Mofaz vowed to crack down further on Palestinian population centers.

He said the Israeli occupation army would take over additional Palestinian towns in the Gaza Strip, but gave no details.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Army continued its 2-week-old rampageous operation in Nablus during which more than 8 civilians have been killed.

Palestinian sources in Nablus said a boy died Sunday of the gunshot wounds he sustained Saturday when Israeli snipers stationed on rooftops opened fire indiscriminately on Palestinian school boys.

Many Palestinians view the latest escalation in Israel's bloody repression as a preview of what could happen if and when the U.S. launches its expected war on Iraq.

Israel has stepped up its nearly one-sided war against the nearly completely defenseless Palestinians, taking advantage of the anti-Muslim hysteria in the United States.