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Seven injured in Israeli air strikes

Ismail Haniyeh - Israel threatened to target the Hamas leader
Ismail Haniyeh - Israel threatened to target the Hamas leader

Israel has launched further air strikes against suspected Gaza militants in the northern part of the territory injuring seven people.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said an aircraft had fired missiles into a building used to store weapons and that secondary explosions were observed.

In a village near Gaza's southern border with Egypt, Israeli troops entered several homes and briefly held seven Palestinians for questioning, according to local residents.

Hamas did not claim responsibility for the few rockets that fell on southern Israel today. No injuries were reported.

Israel has indicated that a fresh ground offensive is possible in Gaza unless international pressure is brought on the Hamas group to halt rocket attacks against Israeli targets.

Yesterday, Israel said it could target the Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, if the ruling Islamist group refused to halt rocket fire into the Jewish state.

Fatah & Hamas leaders meet

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has met with the Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in a bid to ease tensions.

Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, who shares a unity government with Hamas, was aiming to convince Hamas and other groups to stop cross-border rocket attacks against Israel as part of a renewed ceasefire with the Jewish state.

But as the two leaders met at an undisclosed location, Hamas's armed wing released a statement saying strikes against the 'enemy' will continue.

The meeting was the first since a surge in factional violence this month verging on civil war.

Despite the latest ceasefire, tensions between Hamas and Fatah remain high.