Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Thursday decided to open the Rafah border for two days to allow Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip to cross into Egypt.

The crossing will be open Friday and Saturday. Peretz said the decision had been made following consultations over security considerations.

Some 10,000 Palestinians on the Egyptian side of the border have been waiting for the crossing to open to allow them re-entry into the Gaza Strip.

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Due to security concerns, crossing has been mostly closed - other than temporarily on a few occasions - since IDF soldier Galid Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas militants in a cross border raid on June 25.

At least five Palestinians were killed Thursday in three separate Israel Defense Forces raids in the Gaza Strip.

In a separate incident, a Qassam rocket fired by militants in Gaza slammed into a classroom at the Sapir College in the Western Negev. There were no injuries in the incident, but the classroom was damaged.

In the northern Gaza Strip, three people were killed by Israel Defense Forces fire. The IDF said that the three were involved in firing Qassam rockets at southern Israel on Thursday morning.

Local residents and witnesses said the three were teenage shepherds, and that some of their goats were wounded.

Three Qassams had been fired from Gaza earlier in the day, causing property damage but no casualties. One of the rockets landed in the town of Sderot and another in the surrounding area. The location of the third Qassam's landing has not yet been identified.

In the southern Gaza town of Rafah, IDF troops and officers from the police anti-terror unit raided a militant stronghold, killing a woman and wounding seven other Palestinians, including three children, medics said.

According to witnesses, the soldiers also wounded three others in the house, including a boy, and arrested a man.

Witnesses said 35-year-old Iatimahdi Ma'amar died after Israel Defense Forces soldiers stormed a house belonging to a Hamas member near Rafah, a town on Gaza's southern border with Egypt that sees regular arms smuggling.

IDF troops also killed a militant from Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades during an exchange of fire in the area.

The troops swept into the town under darkness in lightly armored jeeps, and an IDF transport helicopter landed at the site after clashes erupted, possibly to evacuate casualties, witnesses said.

Later, artillery hit a home in the Rafah area of Gaza, wounding four family members, one of them seriously. The three others were in moderate condition.

An IDF spokesman confirmed that troops were raiding the Rafah area but had no further comment.

IDF troops arrested six Palestinian militants overnight in the West Bank.