Israel expelled three Palestinian militants from the West Bank to the fenced off Gaza Strip without charge or trial, pressing on with a policy condemned by human rights groups.

Ahmed al-Mushkah, 27, from Jenin, was the first to be taken to the Gaza boundary, military sources said.

?Even if Israel transfers all Palestinians anywhere in the world, it will not help it,? Mushkah told reporters on arrival at the Erez crossing.

<B>?Huge crime against our people?</B>

He said he belonged to Islamic Jihad, a group that has sworn to destroy Israel and has been behind suicide bombings in a three-year-old Palestinian uprising for statehood. The military sources said Mushkah belonged to another militant group, Hamas.

The other two militants, Hamas members Alla Hassuna, 28, from Nablus and Samer Bader, 27, from Ramallah were also deported.

All three were barred from returning to the West Bank for two years, military sources said.

The militants were among 18 West Bank Palestinians slated for expulsion to Gaza for alleged complicity in armed attacks, having exhausted Supreme Court appeals against the decision. The first two were deported earlier this month.

?This transfer is a huge crime against our people,? Palestinian National Security chief Major-General Abdel-Razek al-Majayda told Reuters. Describing the expulsions as ?residency demarcation?, a military source said the move was a preventive measure taken against Palestinians who could not be put on trial for fear of exposing intelligence sources who provided information on them.

Palestinians and international human rights groups have censured such measures in the past as violations of international law. Last year, Israel deported to Gaza two Palestinians accused of helping a suicide bomber.