Israeli tanks pushed into an industrial zone in the northern Gaza Strip late on Wednesday, advancing several hundred metres, witnesses said. Up to 15 tanks entered the sites of the two former Israeli settlements of Elei Sinai and Nissanit near the Erez border crossing point, the sources said. The settlements were evacuated last year. Heavy machinegun and mortar fire was reported at the scene.Israel’s security cabinet gave the green light to the army Wednesday for “prolonged” operations into the Gaza Strip in a bid to release a teenage Israeli conscript captured during a June 25 Palestinian militant attack and to prevent rocket attacks on the Jewish state. The cabinet also ordered the military to intensify air raids against Hamas as well as so-called targeted killing operations against militants who launch or order rocket attacks. Overnight, Israeli warplanes attacked the Palestinian Interior Ministry headquarters in the Gaza Strip for the second time in a week, causing heavy damage and wounding four, Palestinian medical sources said. The security cabinet said it had been decided to create an enlarged security zone in the north of the Gaza Strip after an unprecedented rocket attack hit a school in the centre of Ashkelon south of Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a major Israeli city for the second time in as many days on Wednesday, Israeli media and a rescue service said. The Zaka service said one person was injured by the rocket that slammed into Ashkelon. Military sources said the rocket landed in an open area without causing casualties or damage, although public television said several people were treated for shock. The army was also given the go-ahead to step up an assault on northern Gaza by surrounding the two key towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and enlarging an interdiction zone to be enforced by aircraft and artillery in a bid to stave off rocket attacks.