The Israeli army launched a large incursion into southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, after Palestinian militant groups announced three Israeli soldiers and three Palestinian militants were killed earlier in the day in a gun- battle near the borders between the strip and Israel, witnesses said.

They said that two Apache helicopters were flying low over the area as Israeli ground troops entered the Gaza Strip after Palestinian militants infiltrated southern Israel through the coastal strip.

The infiltration was the first since Israel withdrew from Gaza last summer.

Some Israeli soldiers were wounded Sunday morning, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are still searching for Palestinian gunmen in the South, who attacked IDF post near Gaza Strip and the Kerem Shalom crossing, IDF spokesman told Xinhua.

Palestinian militant groups, however, said that three Palestinian militants and three Israeli soldiers were killed early on Sunday in a gun-battle near the borders between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

They said their operation was aimed to retaliate the Israeli assassination this month of People's Resistance Committees (PRC) leader Jamal Abu Samhadana and air strikes that have killed seven civilians on a Gaza beach.

The IDF closed the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza for several days last week due to a security alert. The closure of the passage meant that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was also shut, as the European monitors who used Kerem Shalom to access Rafah could not reach the border.

Source: Xinhua