Two Palestinian children were wounded on Saturday morning in an Israeli shelling on the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said.

Nawal Abu Azoum, 18 months, and her three-year-old sister were hit in the legs and hands by shrapnel from an Israeli shell that landed in an open area in front of their house which was located in a "no-go" area declared by Israel along the northern Gaza border with Israel, medics said.

The Israeli army said that the shelling on northern Gaza was a response to Palestinian militant rocket attacks on the southern Israeli city of Sderot earlier in the day.

The Islamic Jihad (Holy War) in a statement claimed responsibility for firing two homemade rockets on Sderot, which caused some property damages but no injuries.

The statement also said that Jihad members detonated a 60 kg roadside bomb when an Israeli military convoy was passing by the eastern Gaza border with Israel.

Meanwhile, undercover Israeli soldiers shot and moderately wounded a Palestinian security member in the northwestern Gaza town of Bit Laheya, Palestinian security sources said.

There was no immediate word from the Israeli side concerning the incident.

Israeli troops intruded into the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the first ground operation since Israel withdrew from the entire strip last summer. Jihad said its four militants were killed in the raid.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Perez vowed that the army would continue to carry out operations in the Gaza Strip in a bid to prevent Palestinian militant rocket attacks.

Source: Xinhua