Special report: Israel launches Gaza assault

    JERUSALEM, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning fired a rocket at the southern Israel, inviolation of a six-day-old Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire, local daily Ha'aretz said.

    The rocket landed in an uninhabited area in the western Negevdesert, without causing any injuries, the report said.

    To date, Palestinian militants have fired 14 rockets at Israel since the cease-fire took effect on Nov. 26, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, adding that Israel has not responded to the rocket fire.

    However, the cease-fire does not apply to the West Bank where two Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire over the last 24 hours.

    In the West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli border police Friday morning killed a Palestinian man who allegedly had thrown a fire-bomb at the police.

    On Thursday night, the IDF forces shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian youth who threw stones at the soldiers in the West Bank village of Beita, near Nablus, said Ha'aretz, quoting Palestinian report.

    However, the IDF only confirmed that, in response to an explosive device and six Molotov cocktails that hurled at soldiers,the troops opened fire at the attackers, hitting one in the leg.