At least Three Palestinians were killed early on Monday by an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip, local medics said.

Rescue workers said the bodies were found near the crowded Jabalya refugee camp, a militant hotbed, on the fifth day of one of Israel's bloodiest incursions into Gaza in four years of conflict.

Right now, they could not approach what appeared to be a fourth body at the scene due to Israeli army gunfire.

All the four people targeted were believed to be militants, witnesses said.

The Israel Defense Forces admitted its aircraft had targeted a group of four militants caught planting a bomb, adding all four were hit.

About 2,000 Israeli soldiers in hundreds of armored vehicles has surrounded the Jabalya refugee camp and the village of Beit Hanun. Israel said the offensive is just aimed at ending the firing of rockets into Israeli territory.

About 15,000 Palestinians living in the area of the raid have been without wart and electricity for days.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed on Sunday that the Israeli army would expand an offensive in Gaza and the operation, called Days of Penitence, will last as long as necessary.
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 4, 2004)