Gaza strip blast kills three

Three Palestinians were killed and 17 wounded yesterday by a huge explosion during an Israeli Army incursion into the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. The wounded included three children under 10.

Witnesses said the blast was caused by a tank shell, but Israeli sources insisted their forces had nothing to do with it.

Half a dozen tanks entered the town in the early hours in an operation to find tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt.