Israeli air strike kills 1 in Gaza - witnesses

GAZA, Oct 9 (Reuters) An Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian civilian and wounded three others in the northern Gaza Strip today, witnesses and medical officials said.

The Israeli army said its forces had attacked a person around the town of Beit Hanoun who was collecting a rocket launcher used to fire a rocket into Israel over the weekend.

Palestinian witnesses said an Israeli drone had fired a missile at a group of people in an open area on the edge of Beit Hanoun.

A hospital doctor said the dead civilian was a 14-year-old boy, correcting medical officials who earlier said he was 17.

The boy's father was among the wounded, medical officials said.

Israel launched an offensive against militants in Gaza after Palestinian gunmen seized a soldier in a cross-border raid from the strip on June 25.

Around 225 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed in the offensive.

Israel has also been carrying out military strikes to try to stop gunmen firing homemade rockets at Israeli towns and villages near the border with Gaza.

REUTERS PDM HT1705