IDF troops on Tuesday ended a two-day military
operation in the northern Gaza Strip aimed at stopping Palestinian rocket fire across the border.
The military incursion into the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun, in which an unconfirmed number of Palestinian gunmen were killed and many houses were reportedly damaged, was the latest Israeli offensive in the densely populated coastal strip following last month's brazen Hamas cross-border attack on an Israeli military outpost, in which two soldiers were killed
and a third, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, was abducted.
Over the last three weeks, the Israeli military has repeatedly bombed empty Palestinian government
buildings, and targeted scores of Palestinian gunmen who have been firing hundreds of rockets at southern Israel over the last year.
Despite the military operation, the Palestinians have continued firing rockets from Gaza into Israel, including four which landed in Netiv Ha'asara, Sderot, and Ashkelon over the last 24 hours.
A Thai worker was lightly injured by a rocket that hit greenhouses in Netiv Ha'asara.
The military said that dozens of terrorists have been killed since Israel launched a series of military strikes in Gaza three weeks ago.
Israeli security officials said Tuesday that
Palestinian terror organizations in the Gaza Strip were keen on "turning up the heat" as Israel was concomitantly embroiled in a fierce battle with Hizbullah in Lebanon.
