Israeli aircraft struck the Gaza Strip on Tuesday including a Palestinian security compound near the office of President Mahmoud Abbas, who was not there at the time, witnesses said.
One policeman was lightly wounded in the strikes, medics said. Palestinian security sources said the airstrike was the first on a Palestinian security compound in two years.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said at least two missiles had been fired, but at open areas used by militants to fire rockets into Israel. No buildings or people were targeted, she said.
‘The security building was not a target,’ she said.
Palestinian witnesses said two missiles struck a training base used by Palestinian security forces in Gaza City, where the policeman was wounded. Another missile hit the northern Gaza Strip, an area often used for rocket launching.
The missile that hit the security compound struck a presidential landing zone for helicopters, witnesses said.
The Palestinian Authority ordered policemen to evacuate security buildings and deploy outside the compounds.
The airstrikes followed the launching of at least 12 rockets into Israel on Tuesday by Palestinian militant factions.
Militants regularly fire rockets from Gaza, which Israel withdrew from last year after 38 years of occupation, but the makeshift missiles rarely cause casualties. Israel has stepped up shelling into northern Gaza in recent weeks.