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Israel strikes Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry in GazaIsraeli forces return to Beit Hanoun
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSGAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israeli aircraft blasted the Palestinian Authority's Foreign Ministry offices in Gaza early Monday for the second time in less than a week, Palestinian sources and the Israeli military said. The building was damaged by a previous Israeli airstrike on Thursday. The Israeli military confirmed the airstrike on the ministry building but would not provide details. Palestinian sources said the building was empty, and there was no immediate report of casualties. It is one of several Palestinian Authority agencies hit in the three weeks since the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militant groups. Other attacks have blasted the Interior Ministry and the offices of Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. Israeli shelling Sunday night targeted a tunnel in southern Gaza that was intended to be used to carry out terrorist attacks in Israel, according to the Israeli military. The Israel Defense Forces said troops redeployed to Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza early Sunday to halt rocket launches. The IDF's written statement said it "continues its operation to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in northern Gaza, firing artillery at open areas in northern Gaza from which Qassam rockets are fired towards Israel." Sunday morning, Israeli tanks and aircraft conducted several strikes in the town of Beit Hanoun. Palestinian sources told CNN five Palestinians were killed in Beit Hanoun and a Palestinian woman was killed east of Rafah, in southern Gaza. The IDF said it targeted Palestinians who planted explosives in Beit Hanoun. Also Sunday, Israeli tanks at an army post near the Gaza border fired shells after Palestinian militants launched several rockets at the post, Palestinian security sources said. The IDF said it is checking that report. In a separate incident, Israeli tank shells injured a farmer working in a field with other farmers near the coast north of Gaza City, according to Palestinian security sources. Palestinian sources and the IDF confirmed an earlier airstrike Saturday afternoon on a car carrying Islamic Jihad militants north of Beit Hanoun, but Palestinian sources said the militants escaped the car before the missile hit. Overnight Saturday, Israel launched three airstrikes, the IDF said. The first airstrike targeted several Palestinians who had opened fire at Israeli ground forces, the IDF said. Another airstrike targeted Palestinians who Israel said were carrying rocket-propelled grenades near IDF troops. The third damaged a building in the Jabalya refugee camp that the IDF said is used by the militant group Hamas as an operational command. No casualties occurred in those three strikes, the IDF said. Israel began military activity in Gaza on June 28, three days after Palestinian militants, including members of Hamas' military wing, entered Israel, killed two soldiers and captured Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19. The militant groups holding Shalit have sought to swap him for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Israel has refused, saying a prisoner exchange would encourage more kidnappings. Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization whose military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has admitted responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians as well as attacks against the Israeli military. Islamic Jihad has carried out military operations against Israeli soldiers as well as attacks on Israeli civilians. Israel and the U.S. State Department consider both groups to be terrorist organizations. Israel has also been conducting an escalating military operation on a second front, launching strikes inside Lebanon while Hezbollah militants send rockets into northern Israel. (Full story) That conflict was sparked after Israel experienced its second ground attack in three weeks on Wednesday, when Hezbollah guerillas came south across the border, killing three Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two others. Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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