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Palestinians fire barrage of rockets at Jewish settlements

JERUSALEM, APRIL 20. Palestinians fired a barrage of rockets and mortar shells at Gaza Strip settlements and towns inside Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Israel said on Tuesday.

Israeli soldiers raided the area in Gaza where some of the rockets originated and shot and killed a Palestinian teenager who was climbing on an army vehicle, according to the military and witnesses.

Over two days, 15 Qassam rockets hit Israeli targets, wounding one Israeli and damaging at least five structures, the army said. It was one of the most intense rocket barrages in more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. On Tuesday morning, two rockets hit the northern Gaza settlement of Nissanit, one landed in the Erez industrial zone in northern Gaza and three in the nearby Israeli communities of Sderot and Kibbutz Niram, the army said.

Militants also fired two missiles at the settlement of Neve Dekalim in the southern Gaza Strip, damaging a house, the army said.

Later on Tuesday, Israeli tanks and a bulldozer raided an area near Nissanit, from where, the army said, many of the missiles had been fired. Dozens of Palestinians threw stones and began climbing on the tanks, and the troops responded with gun fire, according to witnesses and the army. Motasem Nasser (17), from the town of Beit Hanoun, was killed. The army said he was climbing on a vehicle when troops shot him.

The rocket attacks began soon after Israel killed Rantisi and two of his bodyguards in a missile strike on his car Saturday night, three weeks after it killed the militant groups' spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Following Rantisi's killing, Hamas vowed to carry out ``100 unique reprisals.''

Israel said the killings were part of its campaign to weaken Hamas in advance of a pullout from the Gaza Strip and West Bank settlements.

AP

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