TEHRAN The specter of Israeli-Palestinian violence loomed large Sunday just two days before the Israeli leadership election, with further bloodshed in the occupied territories and calls for a "day of rage" on polling day.

A coalition of Palestinian groups known as the National and Islamic Forces called for mass demonstrations Tuesday, the day Israel goes to the polls to choose a new prime minister in a race pitting incumbent Ehud Barak against his right-wing rival Ariel Sharon who is streaking ahead in the polls.

On the ground, the Israeli Army said an armed Palestinian was killed by a military patrol while trying to infiltrate into Israel from the Gaza Strip, bringing to 395 the number of people killed during the four-month spiral of bloodletting in the region.

The Israeli Army on Friday reimposed a blockade on most of the West Bank, and the **** Haaretz ***** newspaper reported that the military planned to beef up its presence in the territory in an attempt to counter a recent spate of drive-by shootings.

Deadly violence has jumped markedly over the past week, with casualties among both Israelis and Palestinians further damaging Barak's faint hopes of reelection.

Barak was on Sunday holding his final cabinet meeting ahead of the election, when Israel's 4.1 million registered voters will for the first time choose a prime minister without parallel elections for Parliament.

However, reports said that Barak's election headquarters was exploded in the Israeli city of Haifa as a protest to the upcoming election.

And Sharon, who opinion polls show winning by a margin of around 20 percentage points, scored another boost to his campaign for the nation's top job on Sunday, with an endorsement from the ultra-orthodox Jewish lobby.

The United Torah Judaism Party, with five seats in Parliament, offered a qualified endorsement of Sharon in an announcement published in ultra-orthodox Jewish newspapers, although it did not mention the Likud leader by name.

Whoever wins Tuesday will have to deal with the continuation of the seething violence in the Palestinian territories following the failure of the latest round of peace talks in Egypt last month.

The National and Islamic Forces called for mass demonstrations on Tuesday "that will affirm the continuation of the Intifada as a basic struggle option toward achieving the goals of our people and to commemorate the martyrs of the Intifada."

They also called in a leaflet for a day of "escalation" on Friday "to stress confronting settlements and reinforce the Palestinian steadfastness and confrontations in all areas."

The coalition, which includes Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah Faction as well as hardline anti-Israeli groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, hailed Palestinians living in Israel who will not vote for either candidate.

Many in the one million strong Arab Israeli community, Palestinians who stayed in Israel after the creation of the Zionist state in 1948, have threatened to boycott the election.

Sharon is detested by Arabs for triggering the wave of violence with a provocative visit to a holy site in Al-Qods that is revered by both Jews and Muslims, while Barak has come under fire over the killing of 13 Arab Israelis during protests in October in support of the Intifada.

"The National and Islamic Forces is looking forward to the historic role of the Intifada in confronting the atrocities and barbarism of occupation and settlers' gangs," AFP quoted the coalition.

Dozens of Palestinians, many of them children, were left homeless on Sunday after the Israeli Army destroyed six houses near a frequent trouble spot in the Gaza Strip, witnesses said.

Israeli bulldozers, backed by tanks and soldiers, moved in before dawn and razed the houses along with two petrol stations and a workshop between the Jewish settlement of Netzarim and the Karni crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, they said.

"They forced us out of our homes and threw out our furniture into the rain before starting the demolitions," said Hussein Thabet, whose house was among those destroyed.

He said 64 people, including five brothers and their wives and children, had been made homeless.

The Israeli Army had no immediate comment.

Over the past week, five Palestinians have been killed at Karni, east of Gaza City, as unrest in the region has spiked up ahead of Israel's crucial election for prime minister on Tuesday.

"It is a serious violation of the most basic human rights," Palestinian security official Saeb Ajez told AFP.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian was killed by an Israeli patrol while trying to infiltrate into Israeli territory early Sunday from the Gaza Strip, Israeli military sources said.

He died near the Kissufim crossing point. The sources said it was the second time an armed Palestinian had tried to cross into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip.

His death brings to 395 the number of people killed since September 28 when the Palestinian Intifada (uprising) began. They comprise 330 Palestinians, one German, 13 Israeli Arabs and 51 other Israelis.

A Lebanese teenager's foot was blown up Sunday when he stepped on a mine in the region formerly controlled by the Israeli Army, police said.

Ali Hani Srur, 18, stepped on the mine in the Aita al-Shaab village, some 500 meters (yards) from the Israeli border. He was taken to a hospital where his foot was amputated, the police said.

The incident brings to nine dead and 67 injured the number of civilian victims from mines left over since Israel's 22-year occupation of South Lebanon.

Another 12 demining experts from the Lebanese Army have also been hurt.

The United Nations estimates that Israel left behind at least 130,000 mines in its former self-styled security zone before leaving in May.

UN peacekeepers, who complain that Israel has not been forthcoming with maps of the mines, said January 15 that they have dismantled 2,159 mines and explosives from the area.