12 reported dead in two days in Gaza

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Twelve Palestinians have died in attacks in Gaza over the past two days, officials said Thursday.

Last week, the Israeli government declared Gaza "hostile territory," and there has been a spate of attacks since then.

In recent months, Palestinian militants have fired hundreds of unguided and crudely made Qassam rockets into Israel.

A member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades was killed and three were wounded Thursday when a rocket hit a house in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, Hamas officials and members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said.

The Palestinian sources said the Al-Aqsa militants had fired two or three rockets into Israel when they were spotted by members of the Israel Defense Forces, who returned fire.

The IDF confirmed a strike Thursday in Beit Hanoun, and said it was not an airstrike.

The IDF said it targeted a group of armed men who were linked to a location from where a Qassam rocket had been fired earlier.

On Wednesday, four Palestinians were killed in an airstrike in Gaza City, four were killed by an Israeli artillery shell in Beit Hanoun and three were killed in an airstrike overnight in the same town, Hamas security sources said. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Talal Abu-Rahman in Gaza City and Michal Zippori in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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