An Israeli helicopter gunship fired two missiles on Wednesday near a refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip where Israeli tanks are operating to end rocket fire by elusive bands of Palestinian militants.
There were no immediate details on the identity of the target. An ambulance driver said he knew of no casualties in the strike.
The missile attack took place near the Jabalya refugee camp, a hotbed for Palestinian militants behind rocket strikes such as one last month in the nearby Israeli town of Sderot that killed a child and a man near a kindergarten.
Earlier on Wednesday, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at Hamas militants trying to plant a bomb in the path of soldiers approaching the vast urban Jabalya camp, an Islamist stronghold abutting Gaza City, but no casualties were reported. Israeli forces have now dug around the Jabalya camp in hopes of driving the rocket squads out of range of Sderot.
The persistent rocket volleys have stirred debate within Israel's security establishment over whether they can be stilled by military means alone. Hamas has vowed to go on raining rockets on Sderot until all Israelis are out of Gaza.
Violence has increased in Gaza since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unveiled a plan to evacuate settlers in 2005, with militants keen to prove they chased their foe off occupied land and Israel determined to prevent that by crushing them first.
In the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, Israeli troops firing towards a crowd of Palestinian stone-throwers killed a 29-year-old bystander, witnesses and medics said. In the southern Gaza refugee camp of Rafah, Palestinian witnesses and medics said a 20-year-old man was killed by Israeli gunfire while returning to his home. The army said there were exchanges of fire with militants in the area at the time.
Military sources said soldiers fired after being shot at by Palestinian gunmen but could not confirm if anyone was hit.
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