Gaza City: An Israeli soldier and five Palestinian militants were killed in a day of violence in and around the Gaza Strip, as efforts gathered pace to broker a truce after a week of bloodletting in the Hamas-run territory.

Four of the militants, all members of the Al-Quds Brigade, the armed branch of Islamic Jihad, were killed when Israeli aircraft yesterday struck at the southern town of Khan Yunis, Palestinian medical sources said.

"We opened fire this evening on the terrorists who were trying to place explosive charges near the area where the attack in which the soldier was killed earlier in the day took place," an Israeli army spokesman told AFP.

The Israeli soldier was killed in a blast claimed by militants, which targeted his patrol near the security fence in the central Gaza Strip, the army said.

Three other soldiers were wounded, one seriously, it said.

Witnesses reported seeing an army jeep in flames after a series of blasts around a military post near the Kissufim crossing in central Gaza.

The radical Islamic Jihad group claimed the attack.

Following the attack, Israeli troops moved into Gaza, exchanging fire with militants near the town of Deir Al-Balah. An Israeli air strike in the north of the territory killed one Palestinian and wounded another, medics said.

The violence erupted as international efforts were underway in neighbouring Egypt with the aim of brokering a truce in and around Gaza after an escalation of violence that has killed some 130 people in eight days.

Delegations from Hamas and Islamic Jihad crossed the Rafah border.

Source : PTI