Tel Aviv - An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed there was an exchange of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians near the border with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, but denied Palestinian claims that the incident took place on Gaza territory.

The spokeswoman said Israeli soldiers had approached the border fence in order to carry out a controlled detonation of explosive devices planted there when they were fired on by Palestinian militants.

The Israeli soldiers then returned the fire. There were no casualties in the incident, she said.

Tel Aviv - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice landed in Israel Thursday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders ahead of Sunday's meeting in Egypt of international sponsors of the current Middle East peace negotiations.

She is scheduled to meet Caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Tel Aviv in the afternoon and head to the nearby coastal town of Herzliya Pituah for talks and dinner with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at the residence of US ambassador James Cunningham in the evening, an embassy spokesman said.

Tel Aviv  - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice landed in Israel Thursday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders ahead of Sunday's meeting in Egypt of international sponsors of the current Middle East peace negotiations.

She is scheduled to meet the now Caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the afternoon and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a US embassy spokesman said.

On Friday morning she is to hold talks with other Israeli officials in Jerusalem, before travelling to the nearby West Bank city of Ramallah where she is to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Gaza  - While Israelis reacted with a mixture of excitement and trepidation to the election of Barack Obama as US president Wednesday, enthusiasm was noticeably lacking among Palestinians.

"American policy is very clear and will not change. It is totally biased toward Israel," said Mohammed Midyeh, a mathematics lecturer in the West Bank city of Ramallah, expressing a common opinion.

Tel Aviv - Israeli troops left the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, hours after entering it in the most serious clash between the Israel Defence Force (IDF) and Palestinian militants since a ceasefire went into effect June 19.

The raid left six Palestinians - five militants and a civilian woman - dead, medical officials said.

A military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said the troops went into the strip late Tuesday to destroy a 250-metre-long tunnel being dug under the border, which, she said, was being prepared to aid in the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

The operation was a "pinpoint" one, she said, to destroy an "immediate threat."

Tel Aviv - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni warned Tuesday against increased international pressure on Israel, saying the country would not take "shortcuts" in the peace process with the Palestinians.

"The world must support the process that is being conducted and not expect Israel to carry out shortcuts which would hurt its ability to safeguard its needs," Livni said ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and of Sunday's meeting of international peace mediators in Egypt.