An Israeli and a Palestinian gunman have been killed in a clash near the West Bank city of Hebron.

An Israeli military spokesman said two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a solitary home near the small Jewish settlement of Givat Harsina after dark, killing an Israeli settler.

Someone inside the house fired back, killing one of the gunmen, but the second attacker fled, the spokesman said.

The attack was claimed by the militant Hamas group, which also said one of its members died when the Israeli navy blew up a booby-trapped raft off the Gaza Strip earlier on Friday.

Hamas officials have rejected a Middle East peace plan put forward by Egypt and warned America against attacking Iraq.

Three Israelis were wounded in the shooting near Hebron, which has been a major flashpoint for violence during the Palestinian uprising.

All American targets will be open targets for every Muslim, Arab or Palestinian Mahmoud al-Zahar Hamas official

Givat Harsina lies next to the much larger settlement of Kiryat Arba just outside Hebron.

The gunmen "apparently knocked on the door and when the father of the house opened it they shot at him and he was killed," said the spokesman.

"One of the terrorists entered the house and continued shooting. He wounded two young men who were guests and a daughter of the family."

Earlier, senior Hamas official Abdel Aziz Rantissi said the group would continue military operations, inside Israel as well as in the occupied territories.

"Hamas officially informed Egypt of its final answer: our position is against ending the resistance and abiding by a one-year truce," he told the French news agency AFP.

Sea closed off

The Israeli navy could not confirm the death of the Hamas fighter on the raft, saying they had fired warning shots and thought it was unmanned.

Hamas

Founded after 1987, denies Israel's right to exist Suicide bomb attacks on buses are a trademark of the group

They finally fired at the raft when it was about four kilometres (2.5 miles) off Dugit and the shooting detonated the bomb.

Hamas's military wing named the missing man as 23-year-old Mahmud Yassin al-Jamusi and confirmed that his target had been the Jewish settlement at Dugit.

Israeli troops banned access to the sea after the incident.

In a previous attack on 23 November, two militants died when they blew up a fishing vessel alongside an Israeli naval patrol boat off the Gaza coast.

The BBC's James Rodgers says that previous closures of the sea have caused severe economic hardship for the Gazan fishing fleet.

'American targets'

Friday also saw a street rally in support of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Gaza City, with one Hamas speaker threatening attacks on the United States in the event of war.

Demonstrators called for the Iraqi leader to bomb Tel Aviv.

The rally marked the 12th anniversary of the Gulf War

At least 3,000 Palestinians marched through Gaza, displaying portraits of President Saddam either in military uniform or at prayer.

"From Gaza to Baghdad, the Arabs shall not lose. No to the US aggression against brotherly Iraq!" they chanted.

Hamas was present at the rally, with its supreme spiritual leader, Sheikh Yassin, appearing in a car flanked by bodyguards.

One member of the group, described by Reuters news agency as a senior leader of the group, issued a warning to America.

"If Iraq is attacked... all American targets will be open targets for every Muslim, Arab or Palestinian," Mahmoud al-Zahar told reporters.

Previously the group said that its strategy was only to attack Israeli targets within the Palestinian territories and Israel itself.