GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Palestinian Arab gunmen made their way into a heavily fortified Israeli army post in the Gaza Strip under cover of morning fog yesterday and started shooting, killing three Israeli soldiers in a 45-minute firefight.

Two attackers were killed soon afterward, but a third hid near the post for several hours before firing on journalists inspecting the scene, wounding an Israeli newspaper reporter in the leg.

The infiltration came as Israeli forces wrapped up an operation in a nearby Gaza refugee camp amid signs of increasing tensions and violence ahead of Israel’s planned withdrawal from Gaza next year.

The earth-and-concrete outpost guards the isolated settlement of Morag in the southeast corner of Gaza. Taking advantage of heavy fog, Palestinian Arab gunmen slipped unnoticed into the post at about 6 a.m. and opened fire, killing an Israeli officer and two soldiers and critically wounding another soldier, the military said.

Soldiers fired back, killing two intruders. The shootout lasted about 45 minutes, said Nissim Bracha, a Morag resident. Two AK-47 assault rifles were found on the two gunmen.

A third Palestinian Arab managed to hide near the base for several hours, waiting until journalists arrived for a briefing from an army commander – standard practice after such an attack.

The Palestinian Arab then opened fire, wounding a reporter for the Yediot Ahronot daily in the thigh. The gunman was killed during the ensuing 30-minute shootout.

In a phone call, three groups claimed joint responsibility for the attack.

The caller said the gunmen were from Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees – an umbrella group of Palestinian Arab factions – and the Ahmed Abu El-Rish Brigades, a group with ties to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement. One gunman was an 18-year-old high school student who had participated in clashes with soldiers in the past, relatives said.

A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, using the nom de guerre Abu Abir, said the plan was for two gunmen to engage soldiers in a battle while a third planted bombs targeting an Israeli military convoy.

However, the third gunman was killed before he could detonate the explosives, Abu Abir said.

Late yesterday, Palestinian Arabs said Israeli forces blocked the main crossing point between Gaza and Israel by piling sand on the Gaza road in front of the Erez checkpoint and establishing a military outpost there. The military had no immediate comment.

In an overnight Israeli operation in the Khan Younis refugee camp, bulldozers razed seven buildings the army said were used for cover by militants to attack Israeli forces and fire mortars and rockets at settlements. Fifteen Palestinian Arabs were wounded when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at a group of people during a gun battle in the camp, hospital officials said.