JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinians armed with rifles and grenades attacked Israeli soldiers doing construction work near the Gaza border with Egypt, killing one soldier and wounding two others, the army said. One of the Palestinians was also killed in the attack

It was the second major assault on Israeli targets in Gaza in recent days and defied a shaky four-month truce between Israel and the Palestinians.

The flare-up in violence came as U.S. Secretary of State <FORM class=yqin action=http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post>    </FORM>Condoleezza Rice wrapped up a two-day visit to the region intended to spur Palestinians and Israelis to work together to ensure that Israel's planned pullout from Gaza this summer proceeds peacefully.

The violence began Sunday morning when a group of guerrillas fired an anti-tank missile and a hail of bullets at a military post along the Gaza-Egypt border to create a distraction, the army said. At the same time, other Palestinians attacked a nearby group of military engineers working on construction along the border, killing one soldier and wounding two others, the army said.

The soldiers returned fire, killing one of the attackers and wounding a second who escaped, the army said.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was a joint operation between it and an armed resistance group loosely affiliated with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' <FORM class=yqin action=http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post><INPUT type=hidden value='"Fatah"' name=p> <INPUT type=hidden value=c1,i,yn,c3 name=sourceOrder> <INPUT type=hidden value='

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' name=c3> </FORM>Fatah movement. Both groups said they were still committed to the ceasefire but were retaliating for Israel's killing of two Islamic Jihad members June 7.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said the attack proved how important it is to crack down on weapons smuggling between Egypt and Gaza and to end "all of those attacks that are taking place there and are carried out by those extremists of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad."

The level of Israeli-Palestinian violence has dropped markedly since the truce was declared in February, though violence has continued at lower levels, with the Palestinian resistance launching rockets at Israeli targets and Israeli forces conducting raids searching for militants.

On Saturday, as Rice began her visit, three Palestinians opened fire at an army post in the Gaza settlement of Kfar Darom, touching off a gunbattle that killed one of the attackers and wounded another, the army said. Islamic Jihad said that attack was also a joint operation with a group affiliated with Fatah.

Also Sunday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit met with Shalom and Sharon to help co-ordinate efforts to prepare for the Gaza pullout. Egypt is a key mediator between Israel and the Palestinians.

"The goal of this meeting is to continue to work to help the two sides, the Palestinians and Israelis, co-ordinate between them, to make the planned withdrawal from Gaza a reality . . . and to begin implementing the road map," Aboul Gheit said, referring to the long-stalled peace plan.

Aboul Gheit said he hoped Israel would completely withdraw from Gaza, including the border with Egypt, and allow the Palestinians to reopen their seaport and airport.

"We're talking about a total withdrawal from Gaza, evacuating Gaza completely, giving the Palestinians a chance to live and breathe without the Israeli military or civilian presence on Palestinian land," he said.

Egypt and Israel were also discussing reaching an agreement that would amend the peace accords between the two countries to allow Egypt to post soldiers along its border with Gaza to fight weapons smuggling there, he said.

Also Sunday, Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian teenager trying to smuggle homemade explosives across a West Bank checkpoint.

The teen, Khalil Mohammed Hashash, was caught carrying five pipe bombs in a wooden crate across the Hawara checkpoint at the entrance to the West Bank city of Nablus, the army said.

The army has stopped several youths in recent years trying to smuggle explosives across checkpoints.

Hashash, 16, said he had no intention of attacking Israelis.

"I didn't do it to blow anything up, I did it to get arrested and get a break from this life," he said, adding that he was hoping to collect a paycheque from the Palestinian prisoner association to help out with his family's expenses.