A Palestinian terrorist cell managed to penetrate southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Saturday in an apparent attempt to kidnap another Israeli soldier.

Shortly after four Palestinians drove through Gaza's Kissufim Crossing in a jeep marked “TV” - a practice typically employed by journalists to identify themselves as non-combatants - Israeli troops stationed at the terminal discovered that they were in fact armed terrorists.

One Palestinian was killed in the ensuing gun battle. The three other infiltrators managed to escape the scene.

The Islamic Jihad terrorist organization later claimed credit for the botched assault, which it labeled a successful breach of Israeli security.

Meanwhile, Israeli ground forces were operating more than a mile inside southern Gaza, near the Egypt-Gaza border town of Rafah. Army officials said the force was gathering intelligence and searching for terrorist weapons caches.

Palestinian gunmen reportedly clashed with the incursion force as it cross the Gaza security fence. One terrorist was killed in that exchange of fire.