Five Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Friday, bringing to 27 the number of Palestinians killed since Israel launched a large-scale incursion into Gaza late Wednesday.

Two people were killed by an Israeli air strike, in a raid an army spokesman said attacked "two armed cells" in the Al-Atatra area of Beit Lahiya which has been the scene of the deadliest fighting and attacks over the last two days.

"We identified hitting both of them," the spokesman said. The victims' names were not immediately released.

Nineteen-year-old Motaz al-Firi was earlier killed by Israeli tank fire in Atatra and 20-year-old Shadi Omar, who medics said was deaf, was shot in the chest and killed.

Earlier on Friday, a Palestinian was killed in another Israeli air raid in the same area.

Meanwhile three Israelis were lightly wounded when five rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in the southern Israeli town of Sderot on Friday, the Israeli army said.

The three casualties came when one of the makeshift rockets hit a potato processing plant in the town. Another rocket hit a school without causing any damage or injury.

The other three rockets landed on a residential area and a market place without causing damage or casualties.

The army said 16 Palestinian rockets have been fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip since Thursday.

The latest deaths bring the overall number of Israelis and Palestinians killed since the beginning of the Palestinian intifada in September 2000 to 5 163, the vast majority of them Palestinians.

AFP