Israeli Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has vowed to eject Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from the Palestinian territories if he is elected prime minister.

"The new government's first order of business would be to expel Arafat. I would expel Arafat," Mr Netanyahu said in a televised speech.

This is not the first time for me to be blamed for such an action

Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader

He was speaking hours after Israeli troops raided a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarm following a gun attack on an Israeli kibbutz which left five Israelis dead.

Before dawn on Wednesday, witnesses and Palestinian sources reported Israeli military helicopters firing missiles into Gaza City.

Witnesses say ambulances are at the scene but it is not known how many people have been injured.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli army.

The BBC's James Rodgers, in Gaza, said the target appears to have been the same metal workshop near the city centre which was attacked in the early hours of Monday morning.

The violence threatened to overshadow a new US diplomatic drive to gain acceptance for an international plan to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Mr Netanyahu's comments mark the first time the challenger for the Israeli leadership has publicly pledged to expel Mr Arafat since Mr Netanyahu joined Israel's caretaker government last week.

Camp raided

Palestinian sources said about 30 tanks and armoured vehicles swept into the refugee camp in the pre-dawn raid; two Palestinians were arrested.

Israeli officials have said they believe the Palestinian gunman who escaped after attacking Kibbutz Metzer on Sunday came from Tulkarm.

The army also entered the village of Shweike, north of Tulkarm, where they demolished the home of Mohammed Naifeh, a member of Yasser Arafat's Fatah party.

Israeli military sources said Mr Naifeh organised the attack on the kibbutz.

On Tuesday, Mr Arafat denied his movement was involved in the killings, which had been claimed by the al-Aqsa Brigades, an armed offshoot of Fatah.

"This is not the first time for me to be blamed for such an action. You should not forget that we have condemned it immediately in an official condemnation, " he said.

Earlier, the Palestinian leader ordered an investigation into the killings.

Funerals

Hours after troops withdrew to the outskirts of Tulkarm, about 1,000 mourners gathered in northern Israel for the funerals of three members of the same family killed in the attack on Kibbutz Metzer.

The attack on the Kibbutz shocked Israelis

"I will never be with you again," cried Avi Ohayon, whose wife and two young children were shot dead in their home.

The BBC's Simon Wilson in Jerusalem says the attack on Kibbutz Metzer has deeply shocked a nation already scarred by two years of suicide bombings.

In Gaza, meanwhile, the Palestinians buried two young boys killed in recent clashes with Israeli forces.

One of the victims was a two-year-old Palestinian boy shot dead in Rafah refugee camp in what Palestinians said was an unprovoked attack by the Israeli army.

The Israeli army concedes the boys may have been hit, but says that it does not deliberately target children.

Talks marred

The violence overshadowed the latest American push to gain support for a roadmap envisaging Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank and the creation of a Palestinian state by the end of 2005.

US State Department envoy David Satterfield held a second day of talks with Israeli leaders on Tuesday, ahead of planned meetings with Palestinian officials in Jericho.

The Palestinians have accepted the plan in principle, while Israel has yet to officially respond.

In Egypt, members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas held a fourth day of talks with Fatah officials, reportedly including discussions on ending suicide attacks in Israel.

Hamas, however, denied the topic was on the agenda, vowing that "martyrdom operations" against Israel would continue, the Associated Press news agency quoted a Hamas official as saying.