Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza early Thursday, killing at least one Israeli soldier before being shot dead, military officials and Israeli radio reported. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack. Palestinian sources reported an intensive exchange of fire lasted for about an hour between the gunmen and soldiers at the crossing point, which thousands of Palestinians use every day to get to work in Israel. Israel Radio reported that the two gunmen had been killed. Military officials said at least one Israeli soldier had been seriously wounded in the attack. But Israeli radios reported that the Israeli had been killed. **Israeli Troops Loot Millions from Arab Banks*** Israeli soldiers have stolen millions of dollars from three banks and an aid group during raids in the Palestinian Territories. The soldiers burst into the banks in Ramallah on Wednesday, corralled employees, covered security cameras and walked out with several millions in cash. Israel said it took between 6.7 million US dollar and 8.9 million from the vaults of the three branches, in an attack it said targeted funds funnelled by Iran, Syria and Lebanese guerrillas to Palestinian resistance groups. An Israeli official later said the money would be spent on unspecified humanitarian aid to Palestinians. The raid began Tuesday night, when Israel arrested computer experts from two of the banks. **Raid*** On Wednesday morning, troops in jeeps, trucks and armored personnel carriers sealed off downtown Ramallah as security forces strode into the Cairo Amman Bank and two branches of the Arab Bank, Palestinian officials said. Troops covered the banks' cameras with sacks or disabled them and herded the employees together, before eventually releasing them, witnesses said. Customers were allowed to leave after identification checks. The Israelis sifted through several hundred bank accounts. During the raids, dozens of Palestinians in the streets threw stones at soldiers, who responded with tear gas, metal-core rubber bullets and live rounds, hospital officials said. Forty-two people were injured and three were in critical condition, according to doctors. **Outrage*** Palestinians reacted with outrage to the raids. "The Occupation's Armed Robbery" read the huge red headline in al-Hayat al-Jadida, a newspaper close to the Palestinian Authority, in its Thursday edition. Palestinian officials said the raid violated banking agreements and could trigger a run on the banks. Finance Minister Salam Fayad said: "Such measures will hurt, to a large extent, the Palestinian economy and its institutions." And Prime Minister Ahmad Quraya said: "It's like the mafia... I think it should be dealt with in a very serious way." **PHOTO CAPTION*** An Israeli border policeman hits a resident of the northern West Bank town of Beit Surik, on the edge of Jerusalem, with a baton as protesters tried to prevent Israeli bulldozers from working on a new section of Israel's controversial 'security' fence. 25.Feb. 2004. (AFP/Pedro Ugarte)