Two Palestinians were killed and another injured in clashes between militants and Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip Friday afternoon, medics and witnesses said.

Witnesses said that a group of militants, members of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) armed wing, approached the border between eastern Gaza City and Israel to carry out an attack on Israeli soldiers.

They said that the gunbattle lasted for more than one hour, and one militant was killed and another wounded.

Meanwhile, one Palestinian was killed in the town of Beit Hanoun near the border between northern Gaza Strip and Israel by Israeli gunfire.

The Palestinian approached the border to try to attack Israeli soldiers, and he was shot and killed in an exchange of fire with

Israeli soldiers.

Earlier in the day, five Palestinians were killed in the West Bank in two separate incidents, and three were members of Hamas and two were members of the Islamic Jihad, witnesses said.

The witnesses said that three Hamas militants were killed when an explosive device exploded in a house, apparently due to a technical mistake.

In the West Bank city of Bethlehem, two Islamic Jihad militants were killed after an Israeli helicopter fired one missile at a building in which they were hiding.

Source: Xinhua