Two Palestinian fighters were killed and 23 injured when Israeli troops raided a southern Gaza Strip town overnight, Palestinian security sources said Tuesday, adding that forces also demolished 20 houses. Billel Mohammed Hamdan, 23, and Jamil Abu Mustapha, 18, both members of Hamas, were killed. Hospital sources said at least two of the injured Palestinians were in serious condition. An Israeli military spokesman said that several Palestinians were arrested during the incursion, although he did not give any further details. Meanwhile, a 9-year-old boy was killed Tuesday when a flare he was playing with exploded, Palestinian security and hospital sources said. Two 11-year-old boys were injured, the sources said. The children discovered the flare, apparently left by an overnight Israeli patrol, in the area, Palestinians said. **Ex US-Diplomats condemn Bush policy in the ME*** In the meantime, a group of 58 former US ambassadors and diplomats on Tuesday condemned US policy in the Middle East saying that President George W. Bush had cost the United States "credibility, prestige and friends". The former diplomats released a letter which they said was inspired by a similar protest made by British diplomats to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Like the British diplomats, the former US foreign service officers said they were "deeply concerned" by Bush's endorsement last month of a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. Most Israelis, including a majority of supporters of his Likud party, back Sharon's plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip, an opinion poll published Tuesday said. Meanwhile, Israeli police briefly questioned the wife of jailed Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouthi on Tuesday while she was visiting a son who is also in prison, police said. Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday the rejection by Israel's ruling Likud party of a plan to pull out of Gaza showed the Jewish state was only interested in grabbing more Palestinian land rather than peace. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Palestinians carry a wounded boy after an Israeli helicopter fired missiles during a raid at Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, May 4, 2004. (Reuters)