GAZA CITY, 18 February — The Israeli Army is building a buffer zone on Palestinian land the length of the Gaza Strip, a senior Palestinian security official said yesterday as two Palestinians were killed and five Israelis suffered wounds in daylong violence.

“Starting last week, the Israeli Army has been making a buffer zone parallel to the Green Line all the way along the Gaza Strip, to a different depth according to the situation on the ground, but mostly one kilometer deep,” Col. Khalid Abu Al-Ula of the Israeli-Palestinian military liaison committee told AFP.

He said Israeli forces had occupied or destroyed all the Palestinian security posts in the buffer zone, which he said stretched from Rafah on the southern border with Egypt to Beit Hanoun in the north.

He said the Israeli Army had taken over all strategic highland, through tank incursions, to give them clear command of the border area.

Israeli tanks have rolled in and out of towns from the north to the center of the Gaza Strip in a series of raids which have sparked deadly shootouts and left a number of Palestinians dead.

In the latest raid, Palestinian security officials said bulldozers and jeeps transporting Israeli special units, backed up by tanks, took over an area of high land east of the Jabaliya refugee camp, on the northern edge of Gaza City.

Israeli security officials last week mulled the idea of setting up buffer zones to protect Israeli territory from rocket attacks by Hamas activists.

Meanwhile, the killing of two Palestinians took place near junction 80 outside the town of Hadera after traffic police stopped a white Mazda car for a routine check.

As police approached the car, one of the Palestinians got out and began shooting, but was quickly shot dead by an Israeli policeman.

The second Palestinian immediately drove off and was chased by police, but a few kilometers down the road, the car blew up. It was not clear whether the man was wearing an explosive belt or if the car was filled with explosives.

Ambulance officials initially said at least three were wounded in the attack from the exchange of fire at the scene, but Israeli private television later said five were wounded, one of whom was in a serious condition.

In another development, an Israeli government spokesman warned Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that no one caught “actively engaging in terrorist activity” will be immune from Israeli reprisals.

“The Palestinian Authority must understand that from now on there will be no impunity for anyone caught actively in terrorist activity,” spokesman Raanan Gissin told AFP, adding that this would include Arafat if direct links were found between him and the attackers.

Earlier, Israeli soldiers infiltrated Palestinian-controlled territory overnight and arrested three Palestinians.

Israeli helicopters and F-16 warplanes blasted targets in Nablus early in the morning.