OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israeli tanks shelled military positions of Gaza's ruling Hamas movement early Saturday, the army and Palestinian security sources said, hours after a rocket was launched at southern Israel. A statement from the military said the Israeli "tanks targeted Hamas military posts in the southern Gaza Strip" in response to the Friday fire.

The rocket, which set off sirens in southern Israel, was intercepted by air defences without causing any casualties or damage. Gaza security sources said the Saturday tank fire targeted Hamas observation posts east of Rafah and east of Khan Yunis, causing no casualties. Israel has bombed Gaza almost daily since August 6 in retaliation for the launch of balloons fitted with fire bombs, or, less frequently, rockets.

On Thursday night, Gaza militants fired a dozen rockets at Israel, which responded with air strikes on a rocket manufacturing plant and underground infrastructure. Israeli firefighters meanwhile continued to put out blazes on farmland and scrub set alight by incendiary balloons launched from Gaza.

An Egyptian delegation was trying to broker a return to an informal truce. Egypt has acted to calm repeated flare-ups in recent years to prevent any repetition of the three wars Israel and Hamas have fought since 2008.