An Israeli shell that exploded in the northern Gaza Strip today has killed at least three people and wounded several others, Palestinian witnesses said.
The shell fell among a crowd outside an apartment building in the Beit Lahiya neighbourhood near the Gaza-Israel border.
The Israeli army said artillery rounds were fired today at Palestinian militants launching rockets into Israel from heavily populated civilian areas in northern Gaza.
Israel has killed around 118 Palestinians in a nearly month-long offensive in Gaza to force militants to release a captured soldier and halt rocket fire on Israeli cities.
Earlier today, the Israeli army said Palestinian militants in northern Gaza fired at least six rockets into Israel, two of them landed near the coastal city of Ashkelon. Nobody was hurt in those attacks.
The Islamic Jihad militant group said it fired the two rockets at Ashkelon to mark a visit to the region by "the Zionist Condoleezza Rice," the US secretary of state. "Let Rice go to hell," senior Hamas leader said.
Overnight, Israel bombed buildings the army said were being used by militants to make rockets. The army said it warned residents to leave the buildings before the air strikes.