Israeli forces kill 2 Hamas militants in Gaza raid

GAZA, May 29 (Reuters) Israeli soldiers crossed into the Gaza Strip today and killed two Hamas militants near the border as part of operations to counter rocket attacks against southern Israel.

''We will continue to strike the enemy and we will chase the occupation's soldiers and settlers everywhere in Palestine,'' Hamas's armed wing said, confirming the deaths in a clash just inside the territory.

Hamas and other militant groups have fired more than 250 rockets from Gaza, killing two Israelis, since a surge of violence erupted two weeks ago.

Israel has hit back mainly with air strikes, in which more than 40 Palestinians, most of them fighters, have been killed.

Describing the early morning incident, an Israeli military spokesman said two gunmen were shot by an Israeli force that ''operated in the area of Sufa crossing in the southern Gaza Strip''.

Several militants were detained by the force for questioning, the spokesman said.

It was the second such ground operation in Gaza in the past week. Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades said they believed the Israeli force had planned to seize one of its members from his home when it encountered the gunmen.

GAZA TUNNEL The spike in rocket strikes against Israel has been accompanied by a dramatic decrease in recent Hamas-Fatah fighting, in which more than 50 Palestinians have died.

But in a development likely to stoke tensions between the two groups, Palestinian security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah said they discovered a tunnel near the main security complex in Gaza City.

One security official said an investigation has been launched to determine who dug the tunnel.

Fatah has in the past accused gunmen from Hamas of tunnelling near homes of Fatah leaders in a bid to target them.

Hamas has denied such allegations.

Hamas, which formed a unity government with Fatah in March has rebuffed Abbas's calls to cease rocket salvoes against Israel - attacks he described as pointless.

Hamas has said Israel must agree to a comprehensive truce that includes the occupied West Bank as well as Gaza. Israel says it will press ahead with West Bank raids against suspected militants.

Late yesterday, Israeli soldiers arrested Jamal Tirawi, a Fatah legislator and a leader of the militant al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in an operation near the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian officials said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that Tirawi was taken into custody along with six other wanted militants.

''He was responsible for a terrorist attack in a Tel Aviv cafe in 2002 in which one woman was killed and 29 people were wounded,'' the spokeswoman said.

Fatah spokesman Jamal Nazzal condemned the arrests and said in a statement the international community should ''press Israel to abandon colonial mentality contradicting the principles of human rights and democracy''.

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