GAZA STRIP, Sept 23: Three Israeli soldiers and three Palestinians were killed during clashes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after militants broke into a Jewish settlement.

In other events on the ground, 30 Palestinians needed treatment after troops broke up a demonstration against Israel's West Bank separation barrier, while the Hamas men fired more rockets into southern Israel.

The soldiers were shot dead after the members of three radical Palestinian movements managed to break into the settlement of Morag in the south of the territory in a pre-dawn operation under heavy fog.

"The gunmen infiltrated under the cover of the community's greenhouses and opened fire at the soldiers, killing an IDF (Israel Defence Forces) officer and another two IDF soldiers," an army statement said, adding that a fourth soldier had been wounded.

"IDF soldiers opened fire at the gunmen and killed them. Two AK-47 assault rifles, nine magazines and four grenades were found on the bodies of the two gunmen." As the Israeli commander of the region, General Shmuel Zacai, attempted to hold a press conference in Morag, reporters were forced to take cover as the third Palestinian became embroiled in a further exchange of fire with soldiers which was broadcast live on Israeli radio.

The gun battle lasted about half an hour before the third Palestinian was shot dead, a military spokesman said. News of the militants' deaths was announced by loudspeaker in the nearby Rafah and Khan Yunis Palestinian refugee camps.

The announcements claimed the attack in the name of three of the smaller militant groups - the Popular Resistance Committees, Aburish and Islamic Jihad. Palestinian sources named the three dead men as 22-year-old Mohammed El Azazi from Rafah, Yussef Amr, 19, from Gaza City, and Imad Abu Samhadana, 21, also from Rafah.

Near the West Bank city of Al Khalil, Israeli troops fired rubber bullets as hundreds of Palestinian, Israeli and other foreign activists protested against the construction of the barrier. -AFP