2 Kassams land near Nahal Oz

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
Palestinian gunmen fired two rockets into Israel Tuesday from the Gaza Strip, the army said. The Kassam rockets landed in a field near the community of Nahal Oz. There were no injuries reported in the early-morning attack. Palestinians have fired more than one thousand rockets at Israel from Gaza since Israel pulled out of the densely populated coastal strip one year ago. An Israeli air strike late Monday completely destroyed an empty house in the Jabalya refugee camp. The strike targeted an Islamic Jihad command center, the army said. Palestinian officials said the house was empty, having been evacuated two days before when Israeli officials called the residents and told them a strike was imminent. Eight people were wounded in the attack, two moderately, hospital officials said. Many of the wounded were bystanders, though the house's owner and his wife and children were outside the building during the attack and were wounded as well, hospital officials said. The month-and-a-half-old Israeli military offensive in Gaza, which was launched after Hamas abducted 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit during a cross-border raid on a military outpost, has thus far failed to halt the rocket fire. In the seven weeks since the kidnapping, Egyptian-led negotiations over Shalit's release have stalled, with the Hamas leadership in Damascus said to be holding up an exchange deal. Nearly 200 Palestinians, many of them gunmen, have been killed in the IDF operation in Gaza. AP contributed to this report.