Two members of the Palestinian security services were shot dead by occupation troops during an Israeli incursion into the northern Gaza Strip , Palestinian medical sources said. The two were identified as Iyad Khalil Fayad, 30, and Ihab Jarras, 21, killed during a raid into Beit Hanun which left another 15 Palestinians injured, two of them seriously, the sources said. Israeli occupation tanks backed by a helicopter gunship entered Beit Hanun earlier and surrounded a position of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Force-17 elite bodyguard, injuring one of its members, Palestinian security sources had said.

Israeli public radio confirmed an operation was underway, citing a military source, and said it was aimed at nabbing Palestinians suspected of planning anti-Israeli attacks.

The radio added that the occupation troops had run into fierce resistance and that anti-tank shells were fired at them.

The new deaths brought the toll of nearly 30 months of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians to 3,113 people killed, including 2,336 Palestinians and 719 Israelis.

In the West Bank, 13 Palestinian were arrested in sweeps overnight Thursday, a military source said, while eight makeshift bombs were seized by the occupation army in Jenin.

Occupation troops also shut down an Islamic charity in Bani Naim, near Hebron, suspected of links with the extremist Hamas movement, an Israeli occupation army spokesman said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli occupation soldiers arrest Palestinian suspects(AFP/Musa Al-Shaer)