JERUSALEM, June 25 (Xinhua) -- An earlier deadly Palestinian militants attack on an Israeli military post near the Gaza border on Sunday prompted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)' incursion into the Gaza Strip, Israeli army sources said.

    Two Israeli soldiers were reportedly killed, four others wounded and another was missing when eight Palestinian militants from three armed groups including Hamas' armed wing mounted a coordinated attack on the Israeli army post near the Kerem Shalom crossing on the eastern Gaza border with Israel early on Sunday.

    In talks with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni asked them to urge Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to secure the release of the Israeli soldier.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert forbade negotiations with the Palestinians on abducted soldier's release.

    Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz pledged that the Israeli army will decide on course of action and will exert every effort to secure return of the kidnapped soldier.

    "As far as we know, the soldier kidnapped in strike is still alive," Halutz told a news conference on Sunday afternoon, holding Hamas accountable for the soldier's fate.

    Backed by a helicopter, Israeli troops and tanks entered into the Gaza Strip to manhunt the Palestinian gunmen, IDF spokesman Hernan told Xinhua. IDF generals had focused on discussion of a possible large-scale ground operation in Gaza in response to the raid.

    Eight Palestinian gunmen had infiltrated the Israeli army post via a tunnel dug under the border, fired two missiles at a tank and a pillbox respectively, and blew up an armored personnel carrier. At least three Palestinian gunmen were killed in the battle.

    Hamas' armed wing Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades had claimed that it helped the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the Islamic Army to carry out the raid.

    The armed groups said the operation was to retaliate the Israeli assassination this month of PRC leader Jamal Abu Samhadanaand the killing of seven civilians on a Gaza beach.

    At the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday morning, Olmert blamed the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas-led Palestinian government for the attack.

    Abbas called for return of kidnapped soldier and resuming ceasefire with Israel. He also condemned the attack as violation of the agreements reached by Palestinian factions Saturday, which limits the "resistance" operations to territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War. Enditem