The sources said that two Apache attack helicopters fired two air-to-ground rockets at an empty field in central Gaza Strip, the site of a former Jewish settlement evacuated last September.

A Palestinian boy cries for his lost family member after Israeli troops launched airstrikes, Gaza, July 11, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Palestinian people mourn two young men who were killed during an Israeli airstrike in Gaza Strip, July 10, 2006. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

Relatives of the two young men who were killed during an Israeli airstrike are in deep sorrow, Gaza, July 10, 2006. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

    Shortly before the airstrike, two Israeli drones fired two rockets at the same time at a training camp, which belongs to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah movement, in northern Gaza Strip.

    Palestinian witnesses said that a group of militants in the camp managed to escape from the area without injury.

    Earlier, an Israeli pilotless drone attacked a group of militants who were launching a homemade rocket from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Strip near the border with Israel.

    The militants are members of an armed group called "Al-Fateh al-Mubein."

    The group said in a leaflet that its militants launched a homemade rocket at Israel, and the Israeli attack lightly wounded one militant.

    In the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian residents of the village of Aseera al-Shamaleya said that the Israeli army stormed the village and detained three Palestinians.

    The residents said that Israeli soldiers discovered an explosive device in one of houses and blew it up, adding that the house was destroyed.

    In the West Bank city of Ramallah, two Jewish settlers were lightly injured after Palestinian youth threw stones at their car, Israel Radio reported. Enditem

Related story:

Israel confirms central Gaza incursion 

    JERUSALEM, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Israel's army confirmed that its ground troops entered the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, widening an offensive aimed at freeing an abducted soldier and halting rocket fire. Enditem

Israeli forces enter central Gaza: report 

    GAZA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Israeli troops crossed the border into the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, local media reported.

    Residents said the soldiers were conducting searches in a village east of the town of Deir el Balah and had moved about 150 metres into the territory.

    Israeli forces had already entered parts of northern and southern Gaza.

    Israel has vowed to pursue its offensive until militants free Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was captured on June 25, and stop firing rockets into the Jewish state.

    Almost 60 Palestinians, at least 20 of them civilians, have been killed in the offensive.

    Israel withdrew troops and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip almost one year ago after 38 years of occupation. Enditem