The leader of a radical Palestinian guerrilla group which killed three Israeli soldiers in a daring attack on a military base in Gaza vowed on Sunday to launch more raids against Israeli targets.

Nayef Hawatmeh, head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation Of Palestine (DFLP), which opposes the 1993 Palestinian Israeli peace deal, also called for Palestinian groups to step up the 11-month uprising against Israeli occupation.

"Resistance is the practical and realistic way to respond to the terrorism carried out by the government of terrorist (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon," Hawatmeh told Reuters. "The resistance operations will continue until the liberation of the Palestinian lands, occupied in 19670," Hawatmeh said.

Two DFLP guerrillas, belonging to the group's military wing - the Palestinian National Resistance Brigades (PNRB) - killed three Israeli soldiers and wounded seven after storming their base near a Jewish settlement in Gaza on Saturday.

The raid was the most daring Palestinian attack during the current uprising in which more than 530 Palestinians and over 150 Israelis have been killed.

Hawatmeh called for greater Arab political and financial support for the uprising and urged the Palestinian Authority to abandon the peace deal with Israel, which was signed in Washington following secret talks in Oslo, Norway.

"What is required now is the development of Arab political and financial support to the Palestinian uprising...the Palestinian leadership should abandon the Oslo accords..." Hawatmeh said. A PNRB statement identified those who carried out the Gaza attack as Amin Abu Hatab and Hisham Mousa Abu Jamous. Both were shot dead by Israeli forces.

But the DFLP denied Israel's version that Abu Jamous was shot dead as he fled, saying he was caught alive and tortured before being killed. It vowed to avenge what it called his execution.

"We hold the Sharon government fully responsible for executing the wounded martyr comrade Abu Jamous...we vow that this crime will not escape punishment," a statement sent to Reuters by the PNRB said.

Palestinian hospital sources said Abu Jamous's body was bruised and showed signs of burns.