Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued its operation in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun on Thursday, an IDF spokesman told Xinhua.

Two IDF soldiers were lightly wounded during the operation on Thursday by window shatters when entering a house in the town, said the spokesman, adding they were evacuated to hospital.

The spokesman said that a group of Palestinian militants fired an anti-tank missile at an IDF tank operating in the area, but caused no damage.

Meanwhile, according to the Ha'aretz daily, three Palestinians were killed on Thursday by Israeli troops, bringing the death toll of the Palestinians to 11 since the start of the operation in the early hours of Wednesday.

According to a statement issued by the IDF Thursday, during the first day of the operation, Israeli troops uncovered large amounts of weaponry in one of buildings in Beit Hanoun, including rifles, ammunition and night-vision equipment.

Three Palestinians hiding weaponry in their house were arrested and taken for questioning, said the statement.

Meanwhile, a total of 13 Qassam rockets have been fired at the southern Israeli city of Sderot and areas in the vicinity since Wednesday, causing light injury to two Israelis and damaging some of facilities in the area.

The army spokesman said that the rockets were fired from Beit Lahya, a town west of Beit Hanoun, not from the region dominated by Israeli troops.

Israel started a new round of large-scale military operations in northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday in an attempt to stem Qassam rocket attacks.

An Israeli soldier were killed on the first day of the operation.

Source: Xinhua