Two Palestinians killed in southern Gaza

Two Palestinian militants were killed when the Israeli army pushed into southern Gaza before dawn today, the army and Palestinians reported.

Israeli soldiers killed the two men as they approached army positions in Rafah, on the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt, an army spokesman said.

Palestinian security officials said Israeli infantry and tanks moved into Rafah before dawn and took over a swath of the Gaza-Egypt border, including the Rafah border terminal.

Troops carried out house-to-house searches and bulldozers levelled agricultural land near the border, the officials said.

The army spokesman said the Israeli operation was part of an ongoing push to uncover tunnels used by Palestinian militants to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip from Egypt.

Israel has charged that militants have smuggled large quantities of weapons over the border since Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza last summer.