A young Palestinian boy walks though the rubble of a home destroyed by Israeli army in the village of Mujarkha after daybreak, south of Gaza City Friday, June 27

GAZA CITY, June 27 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Four Palestinians were killed during an Israeli incursion into southern Gaza City early Friday, June 27, to arrest a wanted member of the resistance Hamas group, Palestinian sources said, as a spokesman for Israel's ministry of defense denied an earlier announcement by a Palestinian security source concerning striking a security deal.

Two were the son and brother of Adnan al-Ghoul, a senior member of Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, whose bodies were found when Israeli troops demolished their father's house, the sources said.

Ghoul himself, whom Israeli troops already tried and failed to arrest a year ago, was not in the house, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

Al-Jazeera reported that one Israeli soldier was killed during the incursion.

Mohammed Abu al-Taya, a Palestinian in his 20s who belonged to the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah, was shot dead outside the house of the Ghoul family in the southern al-Moraka district of Gaza City.

The fourth man was named as Kamel al-Saidi, aged around 30. Palestinian medical sources said he was not a “militant”.

During the demolition of the house, Ghoul's son, Mohammed, 24, was crushed to death, and the body of Mohammed's uncle, Imran, 33, was found under the rubble, medical sources, the family and Hamas sources said.

It was not initially clear whether Imran al-Ghoul had been shot dead during clashes with the army or crushed to death when the building was demolished, the sources said.

The four deaths brought to 3,371 the number of people killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation in September 2000, including 2,542 Palestinians and 769 Israelis, according to an AFP count.

Fierce clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen after Israeli forces surrounded Ghoul's house, medical sources and witnesses said.

More than 10 tanks backed by two helicopters, moved more than a kilometer (1,100 yards) into al-Moraka shortly after a large explosion rocked an Israeli tank in the area.

The two helicopters opened heavy machine-gun fire on Ghoul's house, provoking a volley of fire from those inside the building, but shortly afterwards, troops placed explosives around the house and the one next door, blowing them up, the sources said.

Palestinian medical sources said Israeli troops prevented ambulances from going to the scene.

Israeli army radio for its part said the building had been mined by the Palestinians.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the incident, but a military source said one Israeli soldier had been lightly injured during the operation and seven Palestinians arrested.

No Deal

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Israel's ministry of defense said Friday "there is no agreement on a withdrawal" from the Gaza Strip and southern West Bank town of Bethlehem, refuting an earlier announcement by a Palestinian security source.

Israelis and Palestinians held high-level security talks overnight covering an eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan was quoted by his office as saying "great advances have been achieved."

And a Palestinian security source said "there was an agreement for the Israeli army to immediately withdraw from Beit Hanun, Beit Lahia and from Bethlehem. The Palestinian Authority will take over security in these areas."

The meeting was headed by Dahlan and by the coordinator of Israeli activities in the occupied territories, General Amos Gilad.

U.S. envoy John Wolf also attended the talks, held at U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer's house in Tel Aviv.

The Israelis claim they are prepared to hand over security control to the Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip in furtherance of the internationally-backed peace plan known as the roadmap.

In parallel, the Palestinian Authority is trying to wring a ceasefire agreement out of the Palestinian resistance factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, although Israel, backed by Washington, insists that they be disarmed.

Meanwhile, in occupied Jerusalem, two Palestinians the Israelis claim they are would-be Palestinian suicide bombers were shot dead Thursday.

The two Palestinians were on their way to carry out a suicide attack inside Israel," an Israeli source claimed.

"A bomb expert is currently defusing the explosives found in the two large bags the killed terrorists were carrying," they added.

"During searches in the area, two suspects who “most likely” helped the bombers were arrested and are currently being interrogated by the security forces."

The incident took place near the village of Baqa al-Gharbiya, which straddles the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank. It appeared to have no link to another attack Thursday in Baqa al-Gharbiya in which an Israeli was shot dead.

That attack was carried out by a 15-year-old activist from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah group.

The resistance group said the killing was the first of a series of attacks aimed at avenging the killing of Palestinians by the occupation army in the southern West Bank city of Hebron and the Gaza Strip.