GAZA CITY, February 2 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Five Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli raids in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah and the West Bank city of Jericho during the first two days of Eid.

Backed by armored vehicles, tanks and Apache helicopters, Israeli troops besieged at dawn Monday, February 2, a number of houses, targeting Yasser Abuleish, a 25-year-old leader in Islamic Jihad's armed wing Al-Quds Brigades, witnesses and Palestinian sources told IslamOnline.net.

Abuleish was killed and his 38-year-old brother Hussein breathed his last, when they stood up to the occupation troops, refusing to surrender.

Majdi Mahmmoud Al-Khattib, a 25-year-old military leader in Fatah's armed wing Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and Bahaa Hatem Judah, from Hamas' Ezzudin Al-Qassam, were also killed after a firefight with the Israeli soldiers.

The head of Rafah's Abu Youssef hospital, Dr. Ali Moussa, said both Khatib and Judah were shot by a tank's heavy machine gun fire.

Israeli troops further bulldozed flat the house of Abuleish after forcing its residents out without allowing them to take their properties.

Meanwhile, a military leader from Al-Aqsa Brigades was shot dead during a gunbattle with Israeli troops in Jericho on Sunday, February 1, Palestinian security sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

They said Shaadi Misem, from the northern town of Jenin, was critically wounded by gunfire during the clashes and died shortly afterwards.

Israeli sources earlier said "a very small operation" was ongoing in Jericho to arrest wanted Palestinians who were "preparing an attack in the near future".