Israeli strike kills 3 in Gaza after rocket fire

GAZA, Aug 14: An Israeli air strike killed three Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip today shortly after two rockets were fired into Israel from the area, Palestinian doctors said.

The Israeli army said it had targeted militants who had launched the rockets. They had hit the southern city of Ashkelon just as Israel's truce with Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas took hold. One person was lightly wounded by a rocket, police said.

The Palestinian doctors said the three people killed in the air strike were civilians and that one militant and two other civilians were wounded.

An Israeli offensive in Gaza to recover a captured soldier and stop Palestinians firing rockets has been overshadowed by the war with Hizbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles during the conflict since July 12.

The army said the rockets fired from Gaza today were Russian-made Katyushas, similar to many of those used by Hizbollah. Palestinian militants have rarely fired such rockets before, relying on their homemade ''Qassams''.

The Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Rocket fire from Gaza had sharply diminished since the start of Israel's war with Hizbollah.

A UN-brokered truce between Israel and Hizbollah took effect at 1030 hrs, nearly five weeks after the war started when guerrillas abducted two soldiers in a cross-border raid.

At least 178 Palestinians have been killed during the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Reuters