An Israeli settler and a Palestinian fighter have been killed in a clash near the West Bank city of Hebron. According to Israeli occupation army sources two Palestinian resistance men opened fire on a settler near the small internationally illegal Jewish settlement of Givat Harsina. Another settler fired back, killing one of the two attackers, but the second attacker fled.

Three Israelis were wounded in the shooting near Hebron, which has been a major flashpoint for violence during the Palestinian uprising.

Givat Harsina lies next to the much larger settlement of Kiryat Arba just outside Hebron.

The attack was claimed by the resistance group Hamas, which also said one of its members died when the Israeli navy blew up a booby-trapped raft off the Gaza Strip earlier on Friday.

Aborted Sea Borne Resistance Attack

The Israeli navy could not confirm the death of the Hamas fighter on the raft, saying they had fired warning shots and thought it was unmanned.

They finally fired at the raft when it was about four kilometres (2.5 miles) off Dugit and the shooting detonated the bomb.

Hamas's military wing named the missing man as 23-year-old Mahmud Yassin al-Jamusi and confirmed that his target had been the internationally illegal Jewish settlement at Dugit.

Israeli occupation troops banned access to the sea after the incident.

In a previous attack on 23 November, two Palestinian resistance men died when they blew up a fishing vessel alongside an Israeli naval patrol boat off the Gaza coast.

Hamas Rejects Egypt's Truce Plan

Hamas officials have rejected a Middle East peace plan put forward by Egypt and warned America against attacking Iraq.

Earlier, senior Hamas official Abdel Aziz Rantissi said the group would continue military operations, inside Israel as well as in the occupied territories.

"Hamas officially informed Egypt of its final answer: our position is against ending the resistance and abiding by a one-year truce," he told the French news agency AFP.

Palestinians Support Iraq

Friday also saw a street rally in support of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Gaza City, with one Hamas speaker threatening attacks on the United States in the event of war.

Demonstrators called for the Iraqi leader to bomb Tel Aviv.

At least 3,000 Palestinians marched through Gaza, displaying portraits of President Saddam either in military uniform or at prayer.

"From Gaza to Baghdad, the Arabs shall not lose. No to the US aggression against brotherly Iraq!" they chanted.

Hamas was present at the rally, with its supreme spiritual leader, Sheikh Yassin, appearing in a car flanked by bodyguards.

One member of the group, described by Reuters news agency as a senior leader of the group, issued a warning to America.

"If Iraq is attacked... all American targets will be open targets for every Muslim, Arab or Palestinian," Mahmoud al-Zahar told reporters.

Previously the group said that its strategy was only to attack Israeli targets within the Palestinian territories and Israel itself.

PHOTO CAPTION

An injured Israeli settler arrives at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem January 17, 2003 following a shooting in Hebron.

Palestinian resistance men opened fire on an internationally illegal Jewish settler home in the predominantly West Bank city of Hebron on Friday, killing a settler before one of the attackers was shot dead.(ISRAEL OUT) REUTERS/Fla