Three dead in Gaza raid

About 20 were injured in the Gaza refugee camp

Israeli troops have killed three Palestinian police officers and wounded two others in overnight clashes in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources.

They say Israeli undercover soldiers in a civilian vehicle opened fire on a Palestinian police post, south of the Jewish settlement of Netzarim.

Earlier, Israeli forces, backed by helicopter gunships, raided the village of al-Qarara on the outskirts of the Palestinian refugee camp of Khan Younis.

The incidents followed a mortar attack earlier on Tuesday, which wounded 10 Israelis at an army base in Gaza.

The deaths come days after US Secretary of State Colin Powell had been attempting to secure Israeli and Palestinian support for the "roadmap" peace plan for the region.

The roadmap - drafted by the US, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - outlines a process that is supposed to begin with the cessation of Palestinian attacks and Israel's withdrawal from Palestinian territories.

Under the plan, a Palestinian state is due to be established by 2005.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared that the question of Jewish settlements, one of the key issues, is not up for imminent discussion.

Mr Sharon, speaking to the Jerusalem Post, said all Israeli governments had gone ahead with settlements in some form, even during periods of peace diplomacy, and that the issue was therefore "not on the horizon".

Hamas claim

The Israeli Army has so far not commented on the reports from Gaza.

The mortar attack injured 10 Israelis

Palestinian hospital officials said that 20 people were wounded in Khan Younis by a missile fired from an Apache helicopter.

Eyewitnesses said that the Israelis destroyed four houses before withdrawing from the area.

Tuesday's mortar bomb attack hit an Israeli army base near the settlement of Neve Dekelim.

The militant Islamic group Hamas says it fired the missile.

In a separate incident, three Israelis were slightly injured when a homemade Qassam rocket, fired from inside the Gaza Strip, hit a factory warehouse in Sderot.