An Israeli army tank fired Monday afternoon a shell that hit a house in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, killing a Palestinian teenager, medics and witnesses said.

Nahed al-Shinbari, 16, was dead when brought to hospital due to fatal wounds caused by shrapnel of the Israeli tank shell, said medics at a northern Gaza hospital.

The eyewitnesses said that the tank shell fell close to al- Shinbari's house, killing the teenager and causing severe damage to the house. No more casualties were reported.

The tank's fire came shortly after Palestinian armed groups launched several homemade rockets from northern Gaza Strip to the southern Israeli town of Sderot.

Three Palestinian militant groups, the governing Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)'s armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the Islamic Jihad (Holy War), said in separate leaflets sent to reporters that their militants fired rockets against Israel on Monday.

Israeli Radio reported that several rockets fired from the Gaza Strip had landed in southern Israel, causing no casualties, adding that Israeli army tanks responded with artillery shells at northern Gaza Strip.

Source: Xinhua