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Hamas fires barrage of rockets into Israel | |
(about 6 hours later) | |
Hamas militants in Gaza have fired at least 10 rockets into southern Israel following air strikes against the Palestinian territory. | |
The barrage follows months of relative restraint by Hamas, which has been observing a fragile truce. | |
Israeli officials say no-one was hurt by the rockets but communities near the Gaza border are on heightened alert. | |
Meanwhile, a shadowy militant group said it had carried out an attack on the Israel-Egypt border on Monday. | |
In a video, the Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem identified the attackers as an Egyptian and a Saudi. Both were killed in clashes with Israeli forces after setting off an explosion in which an Israeli working on a border security fence died. | |
Tuesday's rocket attacks followed an Israeli air strike near Deir el-Balah in Gaza that killed two Palestinians. | |
Medical officials in Gaza quoted by AFP said the two were both 17-year-olds. | |
The Israeli military said it had hit a "terrorist squad identified handling an explosive device" near the security fence in the central Gaza Strip. | |
Four other Palestinians have been killed in similar Israeli raids over the past few days. | |
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the Israeli strikes prompted the group's military wing "to take a firm stance" and launch rockets. | |
Gaza-based Al-Aqsa TV said the Al-Qassam Brigades had fired 10 Grad missiles into southern Israel "in retaliation for the occupation's crimes". | |
Although other militant Palestinian groups have fired rockets into southern Israel over recent months, Hamas had held its fire. | |
Correspondents say the surprise decision by the group - which rules Gaza - to re-engage militarily with Israel after months of relative calm, raises the prospect of a wider conflict. | |
Monday's attack from the Egyptian side of Israel's southern border has increased Israeli concerns about lawlessness in the region since last year's ousting of President Hosni Mubarak. | |
Later on Monday, two suspected Palestinian militants on a motorbike were killed in an Israeli air strike near the town of Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Israel says the pair were planning an attack. |