GAZA CITY: An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip overnight injured four people, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said Tuesday.
The Israeli army confirmed the air raid and said it hit a weapons storage facility.
The four casualties, including a woman, were slightly hurt by shell fragments when an Israeli aircraft fired a missile on a building in the east part of Gaza City, the security officials said.
The building, which was empty at the time, was destroyed and three neighboring houses were damaged.
“The attack is in response to the recent firing of rockets at Israel’s southern communities over the past few days, the military said.
Israel claims that approximately 35 rockets have been fired at Israel since the beginning of the year, and over 330 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel since the end of Israel’s 22-day offensive in January 2009.
A Thai laborer was killed in one of the rocket strikes earlier this month.
Late Monday, Israeli troops and Palestinian militants exchanged gunfire near the Kissufim crossing point into the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Channel 10 television reported.
And in a separate incident an Israeli soldier was killed in a “friendly fire incident near the border with Gaza as the military was tracking Palestinian suspects late on Monday, an army spokesman said. – AFP
