HIGHLIGHTS: Attacker Was targeting Dugit Settlement in the Gaza Strip||Palestinians See Settlers as Part of an Army Usurping Arab Land||Attacks Underline Futility of Israel's Daily Incursions into Palestinian territory|| STORY: The occupation army said a fresh attack was thwarted when a naval patrol killed a Palestinian Resistance man trying to swim ashore at the Dugit settlement in the Gaza Strip. It said grenades and assault rifles were found on the beach where his body was picked up. (Read photo caption)

The Israeli occupation army also said it had found the bodies of two Palestinians at Sufa on the Gaza-Israel border after an explosion at the fence.

Loudspeakers in Rafah in south Gaza announced three "martyrs" from the Izz al-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the militant Hamas group, had died in a clash with Israeli troops after planting an explosive device at Sufa.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on the settlement of Karmei Tzur earlier in the day when two Resistance men penetrated the defenses of the settlement killing three Israeli settlers. One of the attackers managed to escape.

Jewish settlements illegally built on occupied Palestinian land have been frequent targets of Palestinian militants during a 20-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation.

Palestinians see settlers as part of an army usurping Arab lands.

ISRAELI TANKS IN AND OUT OF JENIN

Early on Saturday, Palestinian witnesses said 14 Israeli tanks fired heavy machineguns in the air as they rolled into the town of Jenin in the northern West Bank.

Israeli troops have carried out frequent raids in Jenin, the hometown of a militant who carried out Wednesday's car bombing, since the end of a recent West Bank offensive.

Israeli officials say the almost daily incursions by occupation troops into Palestinian-ruled areas are to prevent attacks on Israelis, but Palestinian officials accuse Israel of stoking the violence.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli occupation soldiers stand beside the body of a Palestinian man whose body was found on a beach June 8, 2002, in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli forces said they shot at two Palestinians swimming toward the Jewish settlement of Dugit in what it said was a night time infiltration attempt. The Israeli occupation army said it had also found a bag with four grenades and Kalshnikovs and four gun magazines on the beach. Palestinians said the dead man is a member of the militant Islamic Jihad group. (Reuters)