(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-16 13:39

Several Palestinian factions, including one allied with Hamas, claimed to have fired the rocket. Hamas said it fired a barrage of rockets at Sderot, the first time in months the group has targeted the Israeli town. Israeli rescue services said five people were slightly injured by shrapnel and power supplies were cut for a while.

Hamas also took responsibility for killing Carlos Chavez, 19, of Ecuador. He was volunteering on a kibbutz, or communal farm, near the border when he was shot in the back by a sniper.

Chavez was taken to the kibbutz infirmary, where a medical team pronounced him dead, police and the military said.

His death underlined why Israel's military operations in Gaza are vital, said Maj. Avital Leibovich, a military spokeswoman.

"The shooting of the Ecuadorean youth demonstrates the necessity of the defensive measures the military is carrying out with pinpoint operations," she said.

Swaths of Gaza farmland planted with olive trees, cucumbers, tomatoes and squash were destroyed in Tuesday's operation, Palestinians said, and a used car market in Gaza was hit by three tank shells.

The three civilians killed included a 65-year-old man, militants and doctors said. Fifty-two people were wounded, among them an 8-year-old boy who was seriously hurt, medical officials said. Shifa Hospital in Gaza City appealed for blood donations because of the large number of wounded.

Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry said the wounds suggested the Israeli tanks were firing flechette shells, an anti-personnel weapon that throws out thousands of metal darts.

The military had no comment on whether such munitions were used.

The Hamas government called a three-day mourning period and ordered flags on all government buildings to be lowered to half-staff.

Israel is holding peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who took control of the West Bank after losing Gaza to Hamas. But Israeli forces continue to battle Gaza militants who bombard southern Israel with rockets and mortars and attack troops along the border.

Thousands of rockets have hit inside Israel in the past six years, killing 12 Israeli civilians and causing hardship for the 30,000 Israelis who live around Gaza.

Hamas' senior political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, denounced Abbas for trying to make peace with Israel.

"Shame, shame, for those who shake hands with the leaders of the occupation, those who sit with the occupation leaders, and those who give compromises to the occupation," Haniyeh told Hamas TV.

Abbas, Hamas' most bitter rival, denounced the raid and said it undermined peace efforts. A Hamas official said the prime ministers of Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia called Zahar to express their condolences.

In Damascus, Syria, the exiled leader of Hamas said Israel's Gaza raid was the result of President Bush's visit to the Middle East.

"This crime is the ugly fruit of Bush's visit to the region. He has incited the Zionists and has exerted pressure on the Palestinian side to become more hardline against Palestinian dialogue," Khaled Mashaal said in an interview in his office with The Associated Press.

Mashaal was referring to Abbas, whose mainstream Fatah faction has been locked in a bitter power struggle with his Hamas group that now controls Gaza.

"Bush's visit to the region gave the Zionists a green light and this is the practical implementation by the criminal (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert in the Gaza strip," Mashaal said.

"This proves that our people are great and our leaders sacrifice their sons. These are the real leaders that meld with their people and defend them, not those who infiltrate to the futile negotiating table with the Zionist entity," he said of Fatah.

Mashaal said Hamas will retaliate to the Gaza raid with "more resistance, steadfastness and national unity."

"We will not offer more concessions because of these crimes," he added.

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