Israeli aircraft attacked homes owned by Palestinian militants and a metal workshop in the Gaza Strip today, witnesses said.
Medics said five people including an elderly woman and a child were wounded when aircraft bombed the metal workshop in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. Other attacks targeted homes belonging to militants.
The Israeli army said it had carried out several air strikes on buildings used to make and store weapons. Some had belonged to gunmen from the governing Hamas Islamist movement, it said.
Dozens of Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles withdrew from areas east and north of Gaza City after a two-day operation against gunmen that killed 30 Palestinians, around half of them civilians, Palestinian security sources said.
Israel's month-long offensive into Gaza to recover a captured soldier and end cross-border rocket attacks has largely been overshadowed by heavy fighting against Hizbullah guerrillas in Lebanon, but shows no sign of easing off.
At least 150 Palestinians, around half of them gunmen, have been killed in the assault.
Besides the air strikes, troops backed by tanks have made regular forays into Gaza, usually for two to three days before withdrawing.
Israel has rejected demands for a prisoner exchange by the gunmen who captured Corporal Gilad Shalit by tunnelling under the border on June 25th. Some of the gunmen came from Hamas.
Israel withdrew from Gaza a year ago after 38 years of occupation.