Airstrikes kill Gaza's top maker of rockets

The Israeli military said the strikes were in response to a rocket fired from Gaza that hit the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon on Friday, causing damage but no injuries.

Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers said the air attack killed Issa Batran, 42, a commander of its military wing in central Gaza and a senior rocket maker.

Batran had survived several previous Israeli attempts to assassinate him, but his wife and five of his children were killed during Israel's three-week war in Gaza that ended in January 2009.

After yesterday's aerial attacks, some 3,000 Hamas loyalists marched in Batran's funeral procession, firing guns, waving the group's green banner and Palestinian flags. Batran was buried in a grave next to his wife and children.

The cross-border violence came after weeks of relative calm and raised concerns of further escalation.

A Hamas spokesman said the militant group would avenge Batran's killing.

"Hamas will not be quiet over the blood of its martyrs," said Hamad al-Rakab. "Israel is opening all the gates of fire. This blood will cascade into rage and fire."

Hamas said eight of its supporters and three civilians were also wounded in the overnight airstrikes.

The strikes hit a tunnel that runs under the Gaza-Egypt border allegedly used for smuggling weapons, the military said, as well as Batran's shack in central Gaza, which was likely used to make rockets, and a supposed Hamas military training camp in Gaza City.

Israel's military claims more than 400 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza since Israel ended its assault in the Hamas-run area 19 months ago.

The Islamic militants have been building home-made rockets for a decade, and have fired hundreds at Israeli border towns.