Armored Israeli forces raided two Gaza refugee camps Sunday, igniting gunbattles that killed 14 Palestinians after militants staged an attack on Israeli soldiers at Gaza's border.

Ten of the dead were gunmen  nine from the powerful Islamist faction Hamas, and the rest were civilians including three boys, a Hamas statement and hospital medics said.

Seventy-two Palestinians were hurt, many teenagers who threw stones and petrol bombs at the Israelis, who took no casualties in the fighting in the teeming Nusseirat and al-Bureij camps.

Violence has escalated in the Gaza Strip since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced a unilateral plan last month to evacuate Jewish settlers from occupied areas of the territory if a U.S.-backed peace "road map" fails.

Analysts say militants are keen to bloody Israelis as much as possible beforehand to portray any pullout as a victory for their fight. Israel, they say, wants to avoid that impression by striving to cripple militant groups before it quits Gaza.

"Hamas confirms...that Sharon will pay a heavy price, God-willing, and will only leave the Gaza Strip vanquished and defeated," the group said in a statement.

In the raid, tanks and troops backed by helicopters fought militants armed with rifles and rocket launchers.

Israeli forces withdrew from the central Gaza camps around five hours after sweeping in under cover of darkness.

The Palestinian cabinet denounced the operation as "state terror against our people."    

An Israeli army spokesman said the raids were "pinpoint" pre-emptive strikes against "terror groups" that had been escalating gun, mortar bomb and rocket attacks on Jewish settlements in Gaza and border areas for months.

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Brigadier Ruth Yaron, the army's chief spokesperson, told Israeli television: "We should regret when a child is killed undoubtedly, it's a tragedy. But we must realize what we're up against. If we're not there to catch those launching (rockets).children elsewhere will be killed."

Saturday, six Palestinians were killed during an abortive assault by militants in fake Israeli army jeeps at the Erez crossing. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said they carried out a joint strike and pledged more attacks.

It followed an Israeli missile strike Wednesday that killed three Hamas militants in central Gaza.

More than 50,000 Palestinians joined funeral marches on Sunday for the casualties in Israel's incursion and the Erez attack. Militants fired into the air and swore revenge.

"The reaction of this crime will be very soon and we say to the Zionists that any restaurant or bus or bus stop may be a target of our heroic explosions," said one masked militant.