Israeli aircraft fired three rockets at a group of Palestinian militants in overnight Saturday in an operation in the east of the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabalia, killing six and wounding nine, witnesses and medics said.

The witnesses said that an Israeli army force backed by tanks and armored vehicles covered by fighting Apache helicopters rolled into the Izbet Abed Rabbo area in the east of Jabalia town in northern Gaza Strip shortly before midnight.

Palestinian security sources numbered the Israeli army tanks and armored vehicles in the offensive at more than 20.

The Israeli army operation came shortly after Islamic Jihad ( Holy War) gunmen fired two homemade rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sederout, wounding at least one Israeli civilian.

The witnesses said that several militants confronted the invading Israeli army force in a Palestinian-controlled territory east of Jabalia town, saying that Israeli soldiers and militants exchanged fire in the area.

The Apache helicopters came to aid the Israeli soldiers on the ground and fired several air-to-ground rockets at the militants, according to the witnesses.

Palestinian medics also confirmed that six bodies and nine wounded people had been brought to Kamal Odwan Hospital in Jabalia.

At dawn Saturday, an Israeli F16 warplane fired one air-to- ground rocket at a Palestinian-owned house in a southern Gaza neighborhood in the town of Rafah and destroyed it, security sources said.

No injuries were reported as residents had been warned by the Israeli side about the attack beforehand.

Israeli television Channel 10 said that the Israeli army's large-scale ground and air operation into the Gaza Strip was becoming very close to prevent the Palestinian from firing homemade rockets from Gaza at Israel and bring back a captive Israeli soldier.

Source: Xinhua