The Shin Bet recently arrested three Hamas militants from the Hebron area who placed two explosive devices and planned to carry out additional attacks, according to information made public yesterday.

The militants are suspected of placing the devices in April to kill IDF troops in Halhul, north of Hebron.

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Following their arrest, dozens of kilograms of explosives a were found in their possession.

Meanwhile, an IAF strike on Qassam rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday injured at least two people, local residents said.

An IDF spokeswoman said that an air strike was carried out, but no one was in the area.

Two Qassam rockets fired from Gaza in the morning landed in open areas in the western Negev. Two more rockets were fired in the afternoon, but it was not clear where they struck.

Israel has rebuffed Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' call for a cease-fire under which Gaza militants would halt rocket attacks and Israel would stop bombing the Strip.

Hamas says any cease-fire must include an immediate end to all Israeli attacks in both Gaza and the West Bank, a demand rejected by Israel.

Abbas has said he will meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on June 7. An Olmert spokeswoman said the talks were likely to take place in the West Bank city of Jericho.

Hamas and other militant groups have fired over 270 rockets from Gaza in the past two weeks, killing two Israelis.

Two Palestinians were killed and two wounded when a car exploded in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, witnesses and hospital officials said.

They said the casualties were men in their 20s. Their identities were not immediately known.