Rafah, Egypt  - Egypt partially opened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, Palestinian and Egyptian officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The crossing at the town of Rafah, which is bisected by the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, will be open for three days to allow medical patients, their family members, doctors and journalists stranded on both sides of the border to cross.

An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, told dpa that a total of some 3,300 Palestinians, including approximately 800 students at universities in Egypt and other Arab countries, would cross the border over the next three days.

Gaza - Two Palestinians were killed early Saturday outside Gaza City during what family members said was a mission to kill or capture Israeli soldiers.

The family sources said Yaqoub and Ahmed Nassar were affiliated to the radical Islamic Hamas organisation but had cooperated with Israeli intelligence until Hamas discovered this nearly a year ago.

Hamas had then assigned the two to carry out a suicide attack against Israeli soldiers on the pretext of fleeing Hamas and trying to cross into Israel.

Gaza City - An explosion in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia killed a Palestinian man and wounded five others, hospital officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Monday.

The cause of the explosion in the al-Atatrah neighbourhood was not immediately clear. Some residents said it was caused by an Israeli tank shell, while other reports said it was a "work accident," a euphemism for an accidental blast caused by militants handling explosives.

Hospital officials identified the dead man as Rajab Sabbah. They said three of the wounded were in critical condition.

An Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv denied any army activity in the area.

Tel Aviv/Gaza  - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Saturday that his government will not agree to any ceasefire arrangement with the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip unless captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is freed.

With the two sides appearing further apart on Saturday than in recent days, Hamas also accused Israel of rejecting any truce that had a time limit, as the Islamist organization that rules the Gaza Strip had previously offered.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Tuesday a board of inquiry into incidents that caused deaths and destruction at UN compounds in Gaza Strip during the recent Israel-Hamas conflict.

The board will be headed by Ian Martin, a Briton that has led various crucial UN missions around the world, who is called to complete the inquiry and submit a report within one month.

Ban said the board will comprise legal advisers and a military expert.

Cairo/Beirut - A delegation from Hamas' leadership in Gaza on Tuesday crossed into Egypt to continue cease-fire negotiations in Cairo as Israelis went to the polls in an election whose outcome could influence the talks.

The four-member delegation, which includes the movement's spokesman, Ayman Taha, will join other Hamas negotiators who have been meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials to hash out a deal to establish a long-term ceasefire and open Gaza's borders.