Palestinian resistance men killed three Israeli occupation soldiers on the West Bank Thursday, and Israeli tanks and helicopters pounded targets in Gaza City hours later, wounding six people, hospital officials said. Witnesses said an Israeli missile hit an Anglican chapel in a Gaza City hospital compound, damaging the roof. Palestinians said other missiles were aimed at workshops, and six people were wounded early Friday. They said the helicopters fired 11 missiles.

The Israeli occupation army would say only that an operation was in progress. In the past, Israeli occupation forces have targeted workshops in Gaza, charging that Palestinians use them to make weapons, including mortars and rockets.

Occupation Troops Foil an Infiltration Attempt

Meanwhile a Palestinian resistance man in disguise dressed as a woman was caught trying to cross a military checkpoint shortly after he fired toward a Jewish settlement, occupation army officials said.

Also Thursday, Israeli forces detained the wife of a jailed Palestinian resistance leader accused of dispatching the resistance men who assassinated an Israeli Cabinet minister.

Late Thursday, a rocket fired from Gaza exploded in a village inside Israel, causing no damage or casualties.

The Flare up Comes 5 Days Before Israeli Elections

The violence came just five days before Israel's elections, where Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is running for re-election with a policy of harsh military reprisals, is favored.

His so-called dovish opponent, Amram Mitzna, has said he favors negotiations with the Palestinians and withdrawal from most of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip.

In the past, Palestinian resistance attacks on the eve of Israeli elections have helped hard-line parties like Sharon's Likud, galvanizing Israeli fears of so-called terror attacks and desires for reprisals.

Sharon has said Israel cannot give up the hotly disputed holy site in Hebron - the Tomb of the Patriarchs, where the biblical Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are buried - while Mitzna favors withdrawal.

The shootings of the Israeli soldiers occurred at the Beit Haggai intersection near a settlement in the Hebron hills. In its earlier statement, the occupation army did not specify that the victims were occupation soldiers.

Hamas Takes Responsibility

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas took responsibility for the ambush, issuing a leaflet saying the shooting was retaliation for attacks by Israeli settlers and the occupation army against Palestinians and their property in Hebron, known as a Hamas stronghold.

Zvi Katsover, mayor of the nearby Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, said that earlier, occupation soldiers were firing flares in the air to find armed Palestinians. "This was apparently the unit that was chasing the attackers, and engaged them," he told Israel TV.

About 450 Israeli settlers live in three enclaves in the middle of Hebron, making it a flashpoint for resistance.

Tensions have been high in Hebron since Nov. 16, when 12 Israeli occupation soldiers and guards were killed in a night ambush. The attack prompted the Israeli army to take over the Palestinian-controlled section of the city.

Last Friday, Palestinians shot and killed an Israeli settler in a house just outside Hebron.

Funding Internationally Illegal Israeli Settlements

Also Thursday, an Israeli group that tracks Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip released a report showing a disproportionate amount of money from the Israeli budget going to settlements.

More than 200,000 Israelis live in communities dotting the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the lands claimed by the Palestinians for a future state.

The report by the Israeli group Peace Now says DLRS. 450 million from the 2001 state budget went to settlements in the West Bank for housing, road construction and development of industrial areas, as well as income tax benefits. Peace Now said settlers get DLRS.1, 500 more in government spending per capita than those living inside Israel proper.

Peace Now said its data on settlement spending is incomplete because the money is scattered throughout the budget. The total 2001 state budget was DLRS. 50 billion.

PHOTO CAPTION

Flares and flashes from explosions can be seen over the rooftops of Gaza city, Friday Jan. 24, 2003 after an Israeli attack helicopter fired missiles at metal workshops and blew up a house in Gaza. Palestinian official said 4 Palestinians were wounded during the Israeli attack. (AP Photo/Adel