OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, March 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Hours ahead of the expected arrival of U.S. special envoy Anthony Zinni at the Middle East, the Israeli army kept up its assault on Palestinians. Meanwhile, three Israelis were killed and two others injured early Thursday, March 14, in a bomb blast in Gaza.

Three Palestinians, two of them members of the Palestinian security forces, were shot dead by Israeli occupation soldiers early Thursday at the entrance to the Al Amari refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah, a Palestinian security official said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Maher Sharif Abed Rabbo, 25, and Fares Abdel Raham Fares were hit by gunfire from Israeli troops posted on a nearby roof top, the official said.

A third Palestinian was killed Thursday morning in shooting by Israeli soldiers at the entrance to the same refugee camp, hospital sources said.

In another development, the Israeli army entered autonomous Palestinian territory in the Gaza Strip Thursday morning following a bomb attack that killed three Israelis, a Palestinian official said.

A booby trapped bomb exploded early Thursday next to a convoy near the Netzarim Jewish settlement in the south of the Gaza Strip, killing three Israelis and injuring two others, Israeli military sources said.

The convoy included military vehicles that were escorting Israeli settlers. An armored vehicle was destroyed in the blast, a source said, without indicating if the casualties were military personnel or settlers.

The latest deaths brought the death toll to 1,526 since the Palestinian intifada erupted 17 months ago against Israeli occupation. The toll includes 1,178 Palestinians (mostly teenagers and children) and 343 Israelis.   

The latest violence came hours before the arrival of U.S. special envoy Anthony Zinni, who is spearheading a new U.S. effort to broker a ceasefire. It will be his third mission to the region.

Earlier, U.S. President George W Bush said Israel's actions in Palestinian areas were "not helpful" - but added that progress was possible towards ending the violence, reported BBC’s online news service.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, President Bush deplored the violence. "It breaks my heart and the hearts of a lot of people around the world to see young children lose their lives through violence," Bush said.

Bush said both sides in the Middle East had to work hard to create conditions for a political settlement. He did not, as he has over the past few months, name Palestinian President Yasser Arafat specifically. Instead, Bush pointed the finger at the Israeli Government.

“Frankly, it's not helpful what the Israelis have recently done in order to create conditions for peace. I understand someone trying to defend themselves and to fight terror. But the recent actions aren't helpful."

Regarding Zinni’s mission, Bush said: "Zinni's job is to go over there and work to get conditions such that we can get into Tenet. He's got a lot of work to do but if I didn't think he could make progress, I wouldn't have asked him to go."

A U.S. State Department spokesman, meanwhile, warned against the sabotage of Zinni's mission. "No party should act in any way that makes that objective harder to achieve," State Department spokesman Scott McClellan said a day before Zinni was expected to arrive in Israel.