Israel says airstrike targets rocket plant

Gaza, Jun 7: An Israeli airstrike targeted a site in the Gaza Strip early today used by militants to make rockets, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said the target was a building used by the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), an umbrella group of militants, to manufacture and store rockets in Gaza City.

A PRC source said militants managed to escape from the building before the missiles were fired. There were no casualties.

The source said the site was a training base and not a rocket plant. Palestinian witnesses had earlier called the target a militant training base, saying an Israeli helicopter had fired two missiles at it.

Separately, the spokeswoman said the Israeli airforce carried out two aerial strikes in northern Gaza on access routes used by militants to get to a rocket firing area.

Palestinian medics said no casualties were reported.

Yesterday militants fired nine rockets into Israel, one of which slightly injured a woman in the Israeli town of Sderot, which is close to the narrow coastal strip.

Last year Israel withdrew its troops and dismantled 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza. In recent months militants have continued to fire rocket salvoes into Israel from Gaza.

The Israeli military has stepped up artillery barrages and airstrikes on sites in Gaza used by militants to fire homemade rockets into Israel. The rockets rarely cause casualties.

REUTERS

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