Homes are being demolished, forcing people to flee. 72 Palestinians are known to have been wounded. (BBC) (Reuters) Two Palestinians are killed by Israeli troops returning fire after an Israeli soldier was killed at an observation post in the northern Gaza strip. The troops have been engaged in that part of the northern Gaza Strip since yesterday, September 29. (AP) Two Israelis, including a civilian, are killed in an ambush close to Gaza. The Palestinian gunman was also killed. (BBC) October 1 Israeli troops, backed by tanks and other military vehicles, entered the northern Gaza Strip city of Jabalia, and the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya. At least five Palestinians are killed by Israeli rocket strikes on Jabalia. (BBC) (The Guardian) The Israeli military releases unmanned drone footage of the Gaza Strip showing what Israel says are Palestinian militants loading rockets into a van marked "UN." The UN dismisses the claim, saying that the footage actually shows a stretcher being loaded into a van. (Islam Online, S. Arabia) (Haaretz: 1, 2) October 2 Yassir Arafat declared a state of emergency in the Gaza Strip and called for international aid following Israel's raid into Jabalia. (News 24 [S. Africa]) Israeli forces shoot dead four members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and Hamas, who had tried to infiltrate the Israeli Kibbutz of Nahal Oz, about 200 meters outside of that Kibbutz. (Haaretz) (Al Jazeera) (The Statesman [India]) (INN [Israel]) The U.S. government issues a statement urging Israel not to use excessive force during its current offensive into the Gaza Strip. (BBC) The Palestinian militant group Hamas says that it will continue using rockets to attack Israeli communities that border on the Gaza Strip, or Israeli settlements within it, regardless of Israeli military operations. (BBC) The Israeli military begins an operation to create a "buffer zone" within the northern Gaza Strip. Israel says that the purpose of the zone is to protect Israel from attacks using Qassam rockets (which have a range). (The Telegraph) (CNN) October 3 On interview to CBC, UNRWA's commissioner-general, Peter Hansen said that he was sure that members of Hamas are also members of UNRWA. The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, who designate Hamas as a terrorist organization said it "will immediately seek clarification from Mr. Hansen directly and from UN authorities." (CBC) The UNRWA demanded an apology from Israel over claims that Gaza militants used a