Israeli troops clash with Gaza gunmen, kill 3

GAZA, July 19 (Reuters) Israeli tanks pushed into a central Gaza Strip refugee camp today, killing three gunmen in the latest battle of a three-week old offensive to recover a captured soldier and halt rocket fire.

Heavy shooting broke out around the Maghazi Camp as Israeli troops crossed the border into the territory before dawn. Two militants from the governing Hamas group were killed. The identity of the third dead gunman was not immediately clear.

At least 20 Palestinians were wounded, including five children.

The army gave no details of the goal of its latest push into the territory. Maghazi is a district of shabby cement block buildings in the densely populated strip of 1.4 million.

Gaza has been under siege since gunmen captured an Israeli soldier in a raid over the border on June 25.

Almost 90 Palestinians, over half of them militants, have been killed in the offensive. Israeli planes have also bombarded buildings of the Hamas Islamist led Palestinian government and knocked out bridges, roads and a power plant.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for the capture of Gilad Shalit, 19, by three militant groups, including Hamas's armed wing. Israel has rejected their demand to swap more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for the tank gunner.

At the same time, Israel is fighting Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon after they abducted two soldiers in a cross-border raid last week. At least 235 Lebanese and 25 Israelis have been killed.

Israel has said it will continue fighting on both fronts until it gets back its soldiers and removes the threat on its borders.

Both Hizbollah and Palestinian militants have continued to fire rockets into Israel, though the Lebanese guerrillas have far more powerful and longer range rockets than the homemade missiles used by their counterparts in Gaza.

Israel pulled troops and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip last summer after 38 years of occupation.

REUTERS DKB RAI0956