Special report: Israel launches Gaza assault    

    GAZA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian militant groups claimed on Thursday firing a dozen homemade rockets onto Israel despite a large-scale Israeli offensive in Gaza aimed to halt such attacks.

    Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, an armed wing of the Palestinian governing Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), claimed in a statement that its militants launched 10 rockets at the southern Israeli cities of Ashkelon, Kfar Sa'ad, Netiv Ha'asara,Sa'ar Hanighif, Sderot and the kibbutz of Bani Lai.

    The Brigades also said that its militants opened fire at a group of Israeli military vehicles in the eastern Gaza-Israel border area.

    Meanwhile, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, announced in a joint statement that their militants fired two rockets onto the southern Israeli city of Netiv Ha'asara on Thursday.

    In addition, the al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad (Holy War)'s armed wing, also declared in a statement that its militants fired several rockets toward Israel, vowing to "continue resistance against the Israeli occupation."

    Earlier in the day, Israel confirmed that a homemade rocket landed in the industrial zone of the southern Israeli city of Sderot. No injuries or damages were caused.

    Two other rockets fired by Palestinian militants later landed in Netiv Ha'asara, causing some damages but no injuries.

    Palestinian militants continued rocket attacks against Israel despite an ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip aimed to halt rocket firing and rescue an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Gazan militants. Enditem