Gaza Strip ? Israeli troops seized a northern Gaza town Wednesday in one of the largest strikes against Palestinian rocket squads in months, imposing a curfew, deploying snipers on rooftops and patrolling streets in tanks. Eight Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed.

Cabinet ministers scrapped a plan to widen the conflict, however, a move that coincided with U.S. and Egyptian efforts to stanch the flow of weapons to Palestinian extremists across the Gaza-Egypt border.

The takeover of Beit Hanoun was expected to last only a few days, according to Israeli officials, who emphasized the operation was not the start of a broader military offensive in Gaza. One plan for such a major operation would involve seizing large portions of southern Gaza to destroy weapons smuggling tunnels from Egypt.