CAIRO: Israeli fire killed at least two people in Rafah and wounded three others in Khan Younis in the south of Gaza.

At least two people were killed by Israeli drone fire in Rafah, and three people were wounded by a helicopter that fired on Khan Younis, medics said.

Residents said Israeli tanks stationed near the eastern and southern borders of Gaza intensified gunfire and tank shelling into the outskirts throughout the night. A Palestinian official with a group allied to Hamas said a state of alert had been declared among fighters.

In a statement, the Israeli military alleged its forces fired at a motorboat in the coastal area of Khan Younis violating security restrictions in the area and posing a threat. The military said in another incident in southern Gaza, its forces identified two suspects who were moving towards them and posing a threat. Israeli forces `fired at the suspects to eliminatethe threat and identified casualties,` it said.

Separately, a stabbing in Israel`s coastal city of Haifa killed one person on Monday and ended with the Israeli Arab assailant dead, in the country`s first fatal attack since the Gaza ceasefire began in late January. The stabbing came one day after Israel blocked aid to the Gaza Strip during an impasse over extending the truce in the Palestinian territory.

Monday`s attack happened at a bus and train station in Haifa, a coastal city in northern Israel home to a mixed Jewish and Arab population. `A terrorist exited a bus, stabbed multiple civilians, and was subsequently neutralised by a security guard and a civilian at the scene,` police said.

Israel`s Magen David Adom emergency service said they pronounced dead a man aged around 70, and treated four other wounded people. Police identified the assailant as a member of Israel`s Druze Arab minority.

Attacks by members of the Arabic-speaking Druze community are rare, however.

Food prices surge The Hamas-run Gaza interiorministry called on residents to provide information about merchants raising food prices in the wake of the new blockade. Tamer al-Burai, a Gaza businessman, said that with shops suddenly empty, the price of a sack of flour had risen to 100 shekels ($28) from 40 shekels.

Prices for cooking oil, fuel, and vegetables had also surged.

`It is catastrophic and things might become worse if the ceasefire isn`t resumed or there is no intervention by the local authorities against greedy merchants,` he saidvia achatapp.

Israel raised the stakes on Sunday by imposing a total blockade on all supplies, including food and fuel, meant to sustain the 2.3 million Gazans living among the ruins after the 15-month conflict.

Salama Marouf, head of the Gaza government media office, urged Gazans not to panic, saying there was enough food in markets for at least two weeks. The economy ministry had initiated an effort to compel merchants not to increase prices.

Aid agencies have warned that goods could spoil and that they don`t have limitless means to stockpile goods on the Gaza border.

-Agencies