The Israeli air force has launched a missile attack on Gaza destroying a Hamas weapons manufacturing factory after it said a rocket had been fired toward the Israeli border.

The apparent clash came as 35 aid groups including from Australia appealed for an end to Israel’s blockade of the embattled Gaza strip which is in need of reconstruction one year on from the intense 50-day war last August.

Late on Wednesday night a rocket fired from Gaza landed in a desolate area close to the border between Israel and Gaza prompting the air strike tonight from the Israeli air force on a weapons manufacturing plant in the centre of Gaza.

No injuries were reported from either rocket firing.

Salafi Jihadist groups that have a declared waged war on Israel and are backed by al-Qaeda have claimed most of the sporadic rocket strikes on Israel from the coastal territory since last year including eight rockets since January this year, but Israel has said it ultimately holds the Strip’s ruling militant group Hamas as responsible.

The latest exchange, on the one year anniversary since the conflict last year that left more than 2200 mostly civilians and including 500 children dead came as some 35 aid groups from around the world, including ActionAid and Oxfam, launched a joint call to end Israel’s land sea and air blockade of the Strip.

“For a whole year the Israeli government has restricted basic and essential construction materials from entering Gaza,” a signed statement from a coalition of NGOs issued last night said.

“Not one of the 19,000 homes that were bombed and destroyed has been fully rebuilt.

“One year on, around 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza are still homeless, hospitals and schools still lie in ruins, and whole neighbourhoods have no access to running water.”

It added that at current rates of flow of reconstruction materials it could take Gaza 17 years to rebuild.

Direct Australian donations that have been spent has led to water tanks being procured and set up in Gaza in recent months.

Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza in 2006 after Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas captured an Israeli soldier, and tightened it a year later when Hamas consolidated its rule.

Land crossings are also strictly controlled by Israel, which says its blockade is essential to prevent militants from obtaining materials to fortify military positions and build rockets they could fire at the Jewish state.

Out of a population of 1.8 million in Gaza, some 1.26 million are refugees, according to UN figures.

Read more about the embattled Gaza strip one year on from the devastating conflict in News Corp Australia publications on Saturday.