GAZA CITY, Oct 26: Three armed members of the Hamas were killed early on Friday as they tried to force their way into a Jewish settlement in the northern Gaza Strip in the second such attack this month.

“Our Mujahideen opened fire, crushing Israel’s military imperialists in Dugit settlement, which is on our land in northern Gaza,” the group’s military wing, Ezzedine al-Qassem, said in a statement.

The incident at Dugit came as Israeli forces maintained their grip on six Palestinian cities in the West Bank despite pledging a phased withdrawal after coming under heavy international pressure.

A joint Israeli-Palestinian security committee later reached an agreement for the troops to withdraw from the Bethlehem-Beit Jala area on Saturday night, an Israeli defense ministry spokesman said.

The self-rule cities were stormed by tanks after tourism minister Rehavem Zeevi was gunned down in a hotel on Oct 17 and some 50 Palestinians have been slain in the operations.

Hamas said its men launched a mortar bomb at the settlement, fired machineguns and threw more than 20 grenades during a 30-minute exchange of fire.

The group said Israeli helicopters carried away slain Israelis, but Israeli military radio reported no casualties.

“We will continue our jihad until we finish the occupation,” Hamas vowed in the statement.

Israeli army radio said troops had intercepted four Palestinians trying to breach the security fence surrounding the Dugit settlement and killed three. It said the fourth apparently escaped into Palestinian territory.

Hamas, which has carried out most of the suicide bomb attacks on Israel, identified its dead as Othman al-Razayna, 22, Iyad al Batesh, 21, from Jabalia refugee camp outside of Gaza City, and Fuad al-Dhashan, 17, from Gaza City.

Israeli radio reported the Hamas men were armed with Kalashnikov rifles and anti-tank grenades, and had come from nearby Beit Lahiya village.

Israeli tanks stationed outside Dugit and the neighbouring settlement of Alei Sinai responded to the attack by firing shells and shooting heavy machineguns into the area around Beit Lahiya and penetrated a few metres into Palestinian territory, a Palestinian security source said.

Alei Sinai was the scene of a similar Hamas attack on Oct 2 when two men seized a house and killed an Israeli woman soldier and her boyfriend and wounded 15 others before being shot and killed by Israeli snipers.

That attack sparked a violent response from Israel, which bombarded official buildings in Gaza City and sent tanks into a Palestinian area in raids that left six Palestinians dead.

The funeral for the three slain Hamas members was held later in the day in nearby Jabalia refugee camp and was attended by thousands. Fighters stood on the roofs of cars and fired guns.

Following the procession, eight stone-throwing Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers by a Muslim cemetery on the border east of Gaza City, hospital sources said.

A 25-year-old Palestinian who was shot and critically wounded in the chest by Israeli soldiers in Beit Hanun in the Gaza Strip on Oct 8 has also died of his wounds, Palestinian sources said.

Israeli troops also shot dead an Israeli Bedouin Arab who tried to force his way into the Gaza Strip at the wheel of his tractor for reasons that were not immediately clear, an army statement said.

AGREEMENT: The pullout deal was reached during a four-hour meeting of the joint Israeli-Palestinian security committee, after the Palestinians agreed to implement a ceasefire in the area following the withdrawal, the spokesman said.