Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have fired rockets at a nearby Israeli town, wounding at least one person. The attack was in apparent retaliation for an Israeli army raid into Gaza that killed 11 people.
Palestinians fired a salvo of four Kassam rockets at the town of Sderot in Israel, close to the Gaza Strip. One of the missiles landed near a factory wounding one person, who was taken to a hospital for treatment.
The attack occurred during a meeting of mayors from throughout Israel. The mayors had met to express their solidarity with Sderot, which has been the frequent target of Kassam rockets.
David Baker, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, condemned the latest attack.
He described the use of rockets against Israeli citizens as intolerable. He said Israel will use all resources at its disposal, in his words, "to slam the door on the terror spewing out of the Gaza Strip."
The rocket barrage was fired from Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip. Gunbattles broke out in the area earlier, during an Israeli army incursion.
The raid was described as part of an Israeli military offensive against suspected bases of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance movement.
Israel vowed to retaliate against Hamas after the organization claimed responsibility for an explosion Saturday in the Gaza Strip that destroyed an Israeli tank and killed four soldiers.
Israel also sent its forces into Nablus in the West Bank. At least two Palestinians were reported killed as the soldiers conducted operations in the casbah.
Hours later a member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction was killed in Jenin, in the West Bank, when the car in which he was traveling exploded. Three others were wounded.
Palestinian officials blamed the Israel army for the explosion.
