Two Israelis were killed and two others wounded by a suspected Palestinian gunman who broke into a Jewish
settlement in the northern Gaza Strip and was later shot dead.
According to the Israeli military sources, the Palestinian, who was armed with a gun and hand grenades, broke into the northern Dugit settlement.
Palestinian witnesses living close to Dugit said exchanges of fire had broken out between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops, while Palestinian security sources said Israeli tanks had opened fire with shells and machine guns on the nearby villages of Sudaniya and Beit Lahia.
Israeli tanks had also opened fire on two Palestinian taxis just south of the Netzarim crossing, they said, adding that no injuries or damage had been caused.
Meanwhile four Israeli soldiers were injured in a gun battle in Gaza, shortly after troops foiled a car bomb attack in fresh violence as US President George W. Bush worked on Middle East peace proposals.
The soldiers clashed with a group of gunmen near the Dugit Jewish settlement in the northern Gaza Strip during a search for militants who planted a car bomb carrying mortar rounds and launchers and more than 330 pounds of explosives.
Israeli television and radio stations said at least one Palestinian was killed in the clash. The Israeli army declined immediate comment but military sources confirmed Israeli forces had come under fire in northern Gaza.
Israeli troops ended a brief incursion in the West Bank city of Jenin today.
Several armoured personnel carriers, a tank and army jeeps entered Jenin about dawn in what Israeli military officials described as a patrol sent into the city following warnings that militants were about to stage an attack in Israel.
They pulled out five hours later, maintaining a tight chokehold around the northern West Bank city from where dozens of suicide bombings have been launched against Israel since the Palestinian uprising against occupation began in September 2000.
The raid was the latest in a series of almost daily Israeli incursions into Palestinian-ruled territory. AFP &