Israeli forces fire back in Gaza

The Israeli air force carried out two air strikes in the early hours of Tuesday morning in the north and south of Gaza, in response to Qassan missiles fired at the city of Sderot on Monday.

According to Palestinian sources a 65-year-old woman, a four-month-old baby and three other people were injured when an Israeli missile struck a building which housed a charity linked to the Islamic Jihad militant group in Rafah, in the south of the Strip.

Another missile was fired by an Israeli helicopter at a building owned by the Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah faction, in Beit Hanoun in north Gaza. No-one was killed or hurt, but the building was damaged.

The rockets launched at Sderot on Monday were fired by the Islamic Jihad organisation, but did not hurt anyone or cause any damage. The group said the attack was "the first response" to the killing of one of its leaders in a gun battle with Israeli troops in Tul Karm on Sunday night.

The Israeli forces immediately responded to the attack, launching missiles into the areas the rockets were fired from on Monday night. During the night the border posts of Eretz and Karni, between Israel and the Gaza Strip were closed, AKI reports.

V.Y.