Jerusalem ? Dozens of Israeli tanks streamed early today into northern Gaza, with soldiers searching house to house for Palestinian militants, witnesses said, in one of the largest operations in recent months.

The witnesses said about 70 armored vehicles were involved in the incursion, concentrating on Beit Hanoun in the northeast corner of Gaza, closest to Israel.

The Israeli military would say only that an operation was in progress in the area. Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the goal was to stop the firing of homemade rockets from the area.

The operation came as Israeli and Palestinian officials planned for a meeting between their prime ministers, the first summit in nearly three years, set for Saturday night.

Israeli forces destroyed a house belonging to a Hamas militant in Beit Hanoun and surrounded 10 other houses, ordering residents to leave, witnesses said. Hamas has claimed responsibility for most of the rocket attacks.

Some light exchanges of gunfire were reported but no casualties.

Residents said Israeli snipers were posted on the roofs of seven buildings in Beit Hanoun, and soldiers conducted house to house searches. They said soldiers with loudspeakers instructed Palestinians to stay in their houses.

Israeli tanks also moved to surround the nearby town of Beit Lahiya and the Jabaliya refugee camp between Beit Lahiya and Gaza City. Israel cut off the supply of electricity to the area, they said.

Palestinian militants use the area to fire Qassam rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot, less than a half-mile away from the fence dividing Israel and Gaza. Several rockets were fired Wednesday, and on Tuesday, a rocket set a fire in the town, slightly injuring three Israelis.

Despite the upcoming summit, a senior Palestinian official said that Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas would not crack down on militants until his Israeli counterpart accepted the “road map” peace plan.

Yet, in a sign regional peace moves might be starting, the Israeli and Qatari foreign ministers met in Paris in the first public meeting at that level between the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he hoped the meeting would “give courage to additional Arab countries” to forge ties with Israel.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Abbas plan to meet Saturday night at Sharon’s residence in Jerusalem, officials on both sides said. On Sunday, Sharon flies to Washington for a meeting on the road map with President Bush.

The Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abbas’ goal would be to persuade Sharon to drop demands for changes in the peace plan and begin carrying out Israel’s obligations.

He said that until Israel formally accepted the plan, the Abbas government would not carry out its side of the bargain, the central part of which is a crackdown on Hamas, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and other militant groups.

U.S. and European officials have been pushing the two sides to begin implementing the plan, which starts with an end to 31 months of violence, a freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and Israeli pullbacks from West Bank towns and cities.

In a visit earlier this week, Secretary of State Colin Powell failed to gain Israeli acceptance of the road map or any concessions on the settlements — an issue Powell said would be discussed in Washington.