GAZA CITY: Five Gazans were killed and 30 injured by Israeli shelling on Saturday after an anti-tank rocket was fired at an Israeli jeep, wounding four soldiers, sources on both sides said.
The flare-up was one of the most serious clashes in a single day since Israel's devastating 22-day operation in the Gaza Strip over New Year 2009.
In the latest incident, a Palestinian was killed and two other people injured in an Israeli air strike on northern Gaza just before midnight (2200 GMT), medical sources and witnesses said.
Earlier on Saturday, violence flared along the border east of Gaza City when an anti-tank missile was fired at an Israeli jeep, wounding four soldiers.
In response, Israel fired a barrage of artillery fire and shells, killing three people and injuring 25, five of them seriously, medical officials and witnesses said.
One of the injured died later in hospital, Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry said some of the injured were in "serious to critical condition," adding the dead and the wounded appeared to be civilians.
Witnesses said the shooting took place after an anti-tank missile slammed into the Israeli jeep near the Karni crossing east of Gaza City, in an attack claimed by the armed wing of the left-leaning Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The Israeli army confirmed that four soldiers had been wounded by an anti-tank missile.
Military sources said two of the soldiers were in serious condition.
Medics also said five Palestinians were wounded in another instance of Israeli shelling near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. (AFP)