GAZA CITY, May 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli occupation troops killed four Palestinians whom they claim were infiltrating Israel from the Gaza Strip on Monday, May 6, as the army abducted at least 12 Palestinians in a new wave of security sweeps through the West Bank.

Israeli tanks also staged an incursion into the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem, occupying the northern and eastern sectors of the town and an adjacent refugee camp, witnesses said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks and troops remained stationed around Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity for the 35th day even as Palestinian officials reported a deal on removing the last flashpoint in Israel's West Bank offensive.

In two separate incidents, the army reported shooting resistance activists who tried breaking through Israel's cordon of the Gaza Strip.

In one incident, two gunmen broke through the cordon and were killed after they slipped into southern Israel near the village of Kissufim, located near the Gaza Strip border.

Palestinian sources identified them as Hazen Al-Wadya, 22, and Mahrus Al-Bahtiti, 20, both members of the armed wing of the Palestinian movement Islamic Jihad.

For its part, the army said a gun battle in the Kissufim area had lasted for more than four hours and that two soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, as well as the two Palestinians being killed.

Israeli occupation troops also shot dead two Palestinians who broke through an Israeli military checkpoint at the northern crossing of Karni, an army source said.

Palestinian officials identified the two Palestinians killed at Karni as Sohel Ziada, 27, and Mazen Abu Razek, 23, saying they were members of the armed wing of the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas.

Israel maintains a heavy military presence inside the Gaza Strip, controlling major checkpoints and protecting entrances into Israeli settlements in the area.

But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has so far ruled out staging an all-out military invasion into the region similar to the one launched in the West Bank on March 29.

Although the Israeli occupation army has pulled out of most West Bank towns, it staged another incursion into Tulkarem on Monday. Ten tanks occupied the northern and eastern sectors as well as an adjacent refugee camp, witnesses said.

Gunfire was reported, but there was no initial information on casualties or arrests.

The army also abducted Palestinians around the central West Bank towns of Bethlehem and Ramallah.

Nine Palestinians were abducted after conducting house-to-house searches overnight in the Deheisha refugee camp on the western outskirts of Bethlehem, before withdrawing from the area.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces unearthed 50 donums of Palestinian farmed land which included guava and fig trees in the south of Deir Al Balah district, reported Palestinian News Agency (WAFA).

Abdul Qader Abu Holi, one of the land owners said that Israeli bulldozers along with five tanks entered his land and starting uprooting the trees amidst heavy gunfire to protect the bulldozers.

In this process which took nearly four hours, nearly 400 trees were pulled out and the irrigation systems were destroyed, said Abu Holi adding that since the beginning of the intifada, this has been the policy of the occupation forces to ruin Palestinian land and to built new colonial settlements on the land.