Israeli forces today ended a bloody week-long operation in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, leaving behind a trail of destroyed homes, uprooted trees and streets muddied with sewage water from pipes destroyed by tanks and bulldozers.

Nearly 50 Palestinians, most of them militants, and an Israeli soldier were killed in the offensive in Beit Hanoun, which the army said was a major launching ground for Palestinian rockets fired at Israeli towns.

Hours after the troops pulled out, militants began firing rockets again from the town. There were no reports of injuries.

The army said that it had uncovered large amounts of weapons and killed and arrested dozens of militants in Beit Hanoun.

One resident was so angered by what he described as the Israelis' "act of terror" that he said he would now encourage people to retaliate by launching rockets against Israel.

After the pullout, forces took up new positions outside town. Nine Palestinians were killed in clashes in nearby areas, including three killed in a tank strike on a politician's home.

In the dawn light, hundreds of townspeople - who spent most of the last week holed up inside their homes as troops and militants battled in the town’s streets - milled around inspecting that the damage the army left behind.

Hundreds climbed over large sand embankments built by Israeli forces to block the entrances to the town. Women stood outside their homes, many of whose outer walls were damaged by tanks that rumbled through the town’s streets, ripping up asphalt, trees and cars on their way. A mosque that had been the site of a dramatic standoff last week was largely reduced to rubble.

Khalil Yazgi, 45, looked on as children and women picked through the rubble of the four-story structure that had been home to his extended family of 50 people. All that remained was a staircase and the exposed rooms of an apartment.

"If I was against the rockets, now I will encourage people to launch rockets from every spot," he said. "This is an act of terror ... It’s as though a crazy cow walked through a porcelain shop."

Telephone and electricity wires lay exposed on the destroyed roads, with tank tracks clearly evident. The outer wall of the town’s cemetery was destroyed by tanks, and several tombstones were uprooted. Some residents tried to fix the tombstones, while others dug fresh graves for those killed in the fighting.

During an emotional funeral procession, tens of thousands of mourners filed behind ambulances carrying 23 bodies that were being buried in the town of 50,000.

Women wailed as the bodies of the dead were brought out to the streets on stretchers draped with Palestinian flags, and children ran alongside the procession. Crowds chanted "God is great."

The ambulances had a tough time driving past the rubble blocking the roads. Dozens of gunmen packed into loudspeaker cars blaring nationalist songs and the slogans of militant factions, and other militants fired volleys into the air. The streets were draped with Palestinian flags and flags of militant groups.

In the most dramatic episode of the Beit Hanoun fighting, militants holed up inside a mosque last Thursday to escape troops who quickly ringed the building.

The following day, women loyal to the Hamas militant group marched to the mosque to free the trapped men. Troops fired on the protesters, killing two women and wounding 10 others.

By today, the only thing left of the mosque was its minaret. Men who had prayed in the neighborhood mosque stood around the rubble, smoking and trying to salvage torn Qurans, the Muslim holy book.

Hamas officials said that Israeli tanks fired two shells today at the home of Jamila Shanti, the Hamas politician the group credits with organising the women’s demonstration. Medical officials said that three people were killed in the attack. Ms Shanti was not in her house, near Beit Hanoun, when the shells struck.

Clashes continued, meanwhile, in nearby towns. Palestinian officials said that five militants were killed, and that one unidentified man died in an Israeli airstrike.

Officials from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said they closed six of their schools in the area after shells landed near school buildings. At least two were occupied when the shelling began, but the buildings were not struck and no one was hurt.

Militants, meanwhile, kept up the rocket fire that the Israeli operation was meant to curb. Five rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel, including a volley of four that hit the city of Ashkelon - the northernmost point that Gaza rockets have ever reached.

Times Recommends

• UN may halt 400-year-old 'freedom of the seas'
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone
• Gas deal on hold, but Ukraine may pay in the end