GAZA CITY, February 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Three Palestinian fighters were killed by Israeli occupation soldiers in the small hours of Wednesday, February 12, when they tried to storm a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

Armed with grenades and knives, the three fighters were shot dead by Israeli occupation troops guarding the Dugit settlement close to the border between the densely-populated Gaza Strip and Israel, reported the Israeli Haaretz newspaper.

The bodies were later handed over to medical officials in Gaza City who were trying to identify them.

The resistance attack was the latest in a series of infiltration bids by Palestinian fighters in the coastal strip, where around 7,000 Jewish settlers live in a string of heavily-guarded rural communities facing impoverished cities and refugee camps where more than a million Palestinians live under deplorable conditions.

The incident came just hours after an Israeli army captain was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper during an operation in Bethlehem, reoccupied by the Israeli army, like almost the entire West Bank, since last June.

Shahar Shmul was fatally wounded in the neck near the Church of the Nativity late Tuesday, February 11, after his infantry unit blew up a suspect car which had been stolen in Israel.

Israeli occupation troops declared the town a closed military zone and sent in tanks for the first time since June.

Two tanks were seen heading for Manger Square, in front of the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, BBC News Online said.

Earlier Tuesday, an eight-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli occupation troops firing at stone-throwers in the West Bank town of Qalqilya, leaving other nine youths wounded.

The children pelted the Israeli occupation troops as they surrounded the house of a wanted Palestinian fighter.

The deaths brought the toll from almost 29 months of Palestinian Intifada against the Israeli occupation in September 2000 to 2,942, including 2,195 Palestinians and 690 Israelis.

Fearing that Palestinian fighters could launch a massive attack during or after Eid El-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice), the Israeli occupation army has sealed off all the occupied Palestinian territories until the feast ends on Friday, February 14, preventing Palestinian workers still employed in Israel from reaching their jobs.