Five Palestinians were shot dead on Thursday evening by Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Nitzarim in southern Gaza City, Israel Radio and Palestinian witnesses reported.  

The five people were killed in a gunbattle between Palestinian militants and the Israeli soldiers, an Israeli army spokesman told Israel Radio.

The militants were attempting to carry out an armed attack against Israeli army targets in the area, the spokesman said, adding three other Palestinians were detained at the end of the operation.

Palestinian security sources were not able to confirm that five Palestinians were killed, but said that Israeli ground forces backed by two Apache attack helicopters raided the southern part of Zaytoon neighborhood in Gaza City.

Palestinian residents and witnesses said they saw the helicopters firing heavy ammunitions from machine guns and heard explosions in the area for more than three hours.

Local radio stations reported that the Israeli forces besieged a local house in the area and opened fire at Palestinian militants.

The militants opened fire at the house, where Israeli soldiers were deployed, the witnesses said, adding the soldiers called for reinforcement that arrived at the place and prevented ambulances from reaching the area.

Earlier Thursday, three Palestinian militants were shot dead, on of them a 9-year-old boy from the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The other two were members of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas.

(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2004)