Israelis kill three Palestinians in W.Bank and Gaza

JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed two Palestinian militants and a teenager in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian medical and security officials said.

In the occupied West Bank, a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group and a 16-year-old youth were shot by soldiers who surrounded a house where gunmen were believed to have been hiding in Qabatiya refugee camp near Jenin, the officials said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops fired at militants after they refused to get out of a vehicle parked in the driveway of the house.

Israeli forces frequently raid West Bank towns in search of militants suspected of involvement in attacks against the Jewish state. Palestinian officials have said such operations undermine their attempts to exert security control in the territory.

Last month, Israel said it would allow up to 600 members of a Palestinian security force to be deployed in Jenin, under a U.S.-backed plan to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces.

Israeli troops firing into the northern Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian militant during clashes on Thursday near Jabalya, the Popular Resistance Committees militant group said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said soldiers fired at gunmen they saw planting a bomb near the border fence with Israel, but she said they could not confirm they had hit any of them.

The gunman's body was discovered later by an ambulance crew.

In a separate incident, Israeli troops shot and wounded two Palestinian militants who tried to infiltrate the Kerem Shalom border crossing, used to transfer aid between Israel and the Hamas-controlled territory, the Israeli army said.