Israeli tanks seal off Gaza town
Israeli tanks and bulldozers blocked roads in the northern Gaza Strip today - the start of what security officials said could be an extended reoccupation of some Palestinian areas to prevent rocket fire on Israel.
One Palestinian was killed and one wounded, security officials said.
The military operation at Beit Lahyia came in response to a Palestinian rocket attack on the Israeli border town of Sderot that killed a 49-year-old man and a three-year-old boy outside two nursery schools.
It marked the first time in nearly four years of fighting that the crude homemade missiles had killed Israelis.
At the weekend, Palestinian militants also blasted an army outpost in the heart of Gaza with hundreds of kilograms of explosives, killing a soldier. Hamas claimed responsibility for both attacks, and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades said it participated in blowing up the outpost.
In an initial response to the pair of extraordinary attacks, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a Hamas-linked media centre in a 16-storey building in Gaza City and a metal workshop in a refugee camp early today. The army said rockets were being made at the workshop.
The army also blew up an empty eight-storey building and demolished 15 homes near the outpost, leaving about 60 Palestinians homeless.
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