By Xinhua,
Gaza : One Israeli was killed and three wounded Thursday as a homemade rocket attack hit southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip, Hamas and Israeli Radio reported.
Israeli Radio quoted Israeli army sources as saying that a homemade rocket fired from southeast Gaza Strip hit a house in Kibbutz Ashkol near the border with Gaza, killing one Israeli civilian and wounded three others.
Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, saying “the attack is a response to the daily Israeli army crimes committed against the Palestinian people.”
Earlier Thursday, Israeli army troops backed by tanks and attack helicopters stormed a village in southeast Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported yet.
Farmers in the village said that Israeli army bulldozers razed their farms cultivated with olive trees amid intensive gunfire and armed clashes with several militant groups.
They also said that the bulldozers demolished a two-store house in the village during the ongoing operation into the village east of the town of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army forces storm areas closed to the border between Gaza Strip and Israel aiming at preventing Gaza militant groups from launching homemade rockets at southern Israel.