New bloodshed one day after Peres-Arafat meeting

Palestinians attend a funeral in Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza on Thursday.

RAFAH, Gaza (CNN) -- Five Palestinians have been killed since Israeli and Palestinian leaders met to boost support for a cease-fire, the Palestine Red Crescent said, three of them in an early Thursday gunbattle with Israeli troops near here.

Israeli officials said the fight followed the detonation of a bomb that wounded 3 soldiers at an army outpost.

The Red Crescent said a 27-year-old was shot in the head during the battle. Two others were killed by tank rounds fired at homes they were inside.

The Red Crescent said 31 Palestinians were wounded in the gunbattle, four of them critically.

Israel Defense Forces said tanks and bulldozers demolished a number of buildings close to the border with Egypt after a "powerful bomb" destroyed the wall of an army outpost and wounded the soldiers.

As the operation was under way, the IDF said, "massive fire, including light arms, Molotov cocktails and grenades," was directed at Israeli forces, which returned fire. Israeli forces suffered no casualties, the IDF said.

It said the buildings demolished were in a zone under Israel's security control and were used as cover by those who attacked the outpost.

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The Red Crescent also said a 16-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops Wednesday afternoon as he stood near his house in Rafah and that another Palestinian died after being shot in the chest Thursday afternoon.

The IDF said it knew of no incidents other than the gunbattle.

The clashes began less than 24 hours after Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met at the Gaza airport Wednesday to reaffirm their support for a cease-fire.

Because of the Yom Kippur holiday, no spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces was immediately available for comment.

The meeting between Arafat and Peres was held at the insistence of the United States.

The United States has told Israel it believes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is hurting U.S. attempts to build a coalition against terrorism.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday he was glad progress was made and that he looked forward to more progress.

The two sides agreed to resume security meetings and put in place in a series of confidence-building measures.

The goal is to begin implementation of the recommendations made by the Mitchell Committee on restoring peace negotiations.

In a joint communique, Peres and Arafat said they agreed to establish a joint committee of senior representatives to deal with any issue that may arise from the implementation of the Mitchell peace plan.

They further agreed to resume full security cooperation and exert maximum efforts to sustain the cease-fire.

They agreed to carry out all security obligations from previous security agreements, and they agreed Israel would begin to lift closures and redeploy its forces.

The Peres-Arafat meeting was held only hours after three Israeli soldiers were wounded in an explosion in a tunnel under an Israeli outpost near the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, Israel Defense Forces told CNN. One of the soldiers was seriously injured.

Israel announced Tuesday a week ago it would stop offensive operations against the Palestinians after Arafat ordered his security forces not to open fire on Israelis even in self-defense.

-- CNN Correspondent Jerrold Kessel contributed to this report.