Three die in raid as Israeli troops move in

PALESTINIAN gunmen infiltrated a Jewish settlement near the West Bank city of Hebron and opened fire last night, killing at least three people and wounding eight, Israeli military sources said.

They said Israeli security forces shot dead two of the attackers and were searching for others in the Kiryat Arba settlement, a frequent target of Palestinian militants spearheading a 29-month-old uprising for independence.

The two gunmen were killed after holing up inside a building, Israel's Army Radio said.

The incident comes shortly after Israeli troops reoccupied a chunk of the northern Gaza Strip yesterday to stop Palestinian rocket attacks on nearby Israeli towns, deploying dozens of tanks, blocking roads and seizing rooftops in a crowded four-square-mile area.

It marked a shift in army policy in the strip. In the past, soldiers raided Gaza towns and camps dozens of times, but always withdrew after hours or days.

Fifteen Palestinians were wounded in the reoccupied zone yesterday. Palestinians said the 15 were hit by Israeli tank fire, while the army said they were hurt by a firebomb thrown by Palestinians.

Elsewhere in Gaza, three Palestinians were killed after firing at a convoy of Jewish settlers, the army said. Soldiers escorting the convoy returned fire, killing the assailants.

Also yesterday, Mahmoud Abbas tipped by Yasser Arafat as the new Palestinian prime minister said he has not yet responded to the offer. The choice of Abbas, the deputy PLO chief, could signal that Arafat had given up on the idea of appointing a politically weak prime minister.

The Gaza operation aimed at preventing Palestinians from firing small, homemade Qassam rockets at Israeli border towns began before dawn yesterday. About 100 tanks and military vehicles took control of four square miles lined by the Palestinian towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and the Jabaliya refugee camp.

"We are holding a large area from which Qassam rockets have been launched recently, including in the last two days," said the Israeli officer in charge, Yoel Strick.

He said the Israeli presence was open-ended and that the boundaries of the area being seized could change. Asked by Israel Army Radio if Israel was reoccupying the area, he said: "Yes, indeed."

Palestinian officials said about 6,000 Palestinians live in the area seized, most in Beit Lahiya, which is closest to the border fence with Israel.

About 40 tanks and military vehicles were parked yesterday on a sandy hill overlooking Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya. Troops took over a former Palestinian police base and an elementary school, witnesses said. Bulldozers cleared orchard trees and farm land to provide cover for Palestinians firing rockets. Strick said residents in the reoccupied zones were not restricted in their movement.

The seizure marks a growing escalation. On Thursday, rockets were fired toward the Israeli border town of Sderot, causing no damage or injuries in response to an Israeli sweep through Jabaliya that left 11 Palestinians dead.

That raid came a day after a Hamas militant blew himself up on an Israeli bus in the northern port city of Haifa, killing 14 Israelis and an American.