Two top Palestinian resistance commanders were assassinated in an explosion in Jenin refugee camp that witnesses said was caused by a missile fired by an Israeli warplane. The deaths of Ala'a Sabbagh of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Imad Nasharti of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades on Tuesday night raised the specter of a surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence on the eve of a pre-election leadership ballot in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ruling Likud party.

But their deaths could also give Sharon a boost among members of the right-wing Likud two days before the leadership vote in which his more hawkish Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is challenging him.

Palestinian security sources said both those killed, Jenin area commanders for their respective groups, had been wanted by Israeli occupation forces for months.

Witnesses in the Jenin camp told Reuters they had seen an Israeli F-16 jet fire a missile at a friend's house where Sabbagh and Nasharti had been hiding. The body of one of the resistance commanders was torn to pieces in the explosion.

A Reuters correspondent saw an F-16 flying overhead at the time and said it had released a flare. But he did not see it fire any missiles.

However, Israeli occupation army sources did not rule out the possibility that a non-military Israeli security service such as Shin Bet could have carried out the attack.

The Israeli occupation army and Shin Bet have assassinated dozens of senior resistance leaders in operations that Palestinians have branded state-sponsored assassinations, and that many countries have condemned.

DEADLY REVENGE ATTACKS EXPECTED

Israel's previous assassinations of senior resistance leaders since the start in September 2000 of a Palestinian uprising for statehood have drawn deadly revenge attacks inside Israel and against internationally illegal Jewish settlements on occupied land in the West Bank and Gaza.

Al-Aqsa, and Qassam, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, have killed dozens of Israelis in bombings. Arafat has condemned such attacks.

ARRESTS & DEMOLITION OF PALESTINIAN HOUSES DURING AN ISRAELI RAID IN THE CENTRAL GAZA STRIP

Earlier on Tuesday, tanks backed by helicopter gunships battled Palestinian resistance men during an Israeli raid in the central Gaza Strip and troops rounded up dozens of Palestinians in the West Bank in a sweep for resistance activists.

Israeli occupation forces blew up a four-story house belonging to relatives of a Palestinian resistance activist during the operation in Deir al-Balah refugee camp before withdrawing.

The Gaza incursion was part of an Israeli drive against resistance groups following a bombing on a bus in Jerusalem last week that killed 11 Israelis in a resurgence of violence in the Palestinian uprising against occupation.

In an incident after nightfall, the occupation army said its soldiers had shot an armed Palestinian near the Jewish settlement of Rafiah Yam in the Gaza Strip but it did not know if he was dead

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian boy sits in front of a house and a car which were destroyed as the Israeli occupation army entered the Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah November 26, 2002. Israeli tanks backed by helicopter gunships swept into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, battling Palestinian gunmen and troops arrested at least 25 suspected militants in West Bank raids. (Reinhard Krause/Reuter