The Israel Air Force on Tuesday attacked a group of Palestinian militants at a rocket-launching site in the Gaza Strip. Three people were killed in the attack, according to Palestinian officials.

Open gallery view Palestinian gunmen east of Gaza City. Credit: AP

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed striking Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip. The army said it identified a secondary explosion in the attack.

Palestinians said a senior member of the Palestinians Resistance Committees and a woman were killed in the attack. The third fatality has not yet been identified.

Before the Israeli air strike took place, militants fired two rockets from coastal Gaza, both striking near the city of Ashkelon. There were no casualties in that attack, a military spokesman said.

IDF troops earlier Tuesday killed two Islamic Jihad militants who crossed into Israel from Gaza, following a short shootout. The Israeli fighters emerged unscathed from the battle.

GOC Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant and the Commander of the Gaza Division, Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg arrived on the scene in order to understand the circumstances surrounding the infiltration, the IDF Spokesman's Office told Haaretz.



Israeli police said roadblocks were erected inside Israel after the reported infiltration from the Strip.



Schoolchildren in the Eshkol Regional Council area of the western Negev were ordered to stay indoors.



Israeli security forces are on high alert on the Lebanon, Gaza and Syria borders following the Israel Navy raid of the Gaza aid flotilla, which resulted in the deaths of nine pro-Palestinian activists Monday morning.