Four Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians have been killed in a number of separate violent incidents in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian militants blew up two Israeli soldiers in an armoured vehicle in the camp. Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said they mounted the attack in the Rafah refugee camp while soldiers were destroying buildings along a Gaza-Egypt border corridor that Israel controls and plans to widen with a mass demolition of homes.
Before the ambush, helicopters fired missiles into Rafah, killing a 28-year-old man. Also today, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian the army said was trying to plant a bomb near a Jewish settlement close to Rafah.
Palestinian militants later shot dead two more Israeli soldiers in Rafah and injured another two, the Israeli army said. The militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the incident.
The ambush of the Israeli soldiers occurred not far from the spot where Palestinian fighters blew up a troop carrier on Wednesday, killing five Israelis, and while soldiers were still combing the sandy soil for remains of their dead comrades.
An Israeli military source said only that "some soldiers were wounded as a result of shooting and explosions". The latest deaths bring to 13 the number of soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip this week, the worst blow to Israel's army in two years.
Polls showed deepening support in Israel for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza pullout plan, now stalled by hardliners in his own rightist party, as this week's losses reminded Israelis of the high cost of the hard-to-defend Gaza settlements.
The Gaza violence has also raised concern among Israeli military planners that Palestinians have adopted the tactics of Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas that eventually ended Israel's occupation of south Lebanon in 2000.
Israeli political sources had said dozens or even hundreds of Palestinian homes in Rafah refugee camp would be razed in coming days in a bid to deny cover to militants who attack troops daily.
Israel has already destroyed hundreds of structures in the camp while trying to uncover weapons-smuggling tunnels during the past three-and-a-half years of conflict.
Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, urged Israel to halt the demolition and called on both sides to declare an immediate ceasefire and open negotiations.
Five soldiers in an explosives-packed troop carrier were killed in the buffer zone on Wednesday, a day after a similar attack in Gaza City in which six servicemen died. Israel killed 12 Palestinians in Rafah and 16 in Gaza City fighting, including militants and bystanders.