Palestinian militants continued firing Qassam rockets on the Negev on Friday, despite the Israeli military operation meant to curtail the rocket fire.

Four Qassam rockets hit the Negev on Friday morning, causing no injuries. Some 15 rockets struck the area Thursday and overnight Friday.

Meanwhile, the Israel Air Force struck close to the northern Gaza home of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas late Thursday, Palestinian security officials said. The strike was one of seven carried out by the IAF overnight, the army said.

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One Palestinian was killed by IDF tank fire in northern Gaza on Thursday, and Palestinian sources said that a second was killed by fire from the Israel Navy. They identified the latter victim as a 28-year-old fisherman, Said al-Attar. The IDF confirmed that naval ships had opened fire on an abandoned fishing boat that had moved beyond the permitted sailing zone, and said it was investigating the incident.

In addition, Amal Daoud, 40, died in an Israeli hospital yesterday of wounds incurred from IDF gunfire last week.

Ten Palestinians were wounded in the air strikes, Israel Radio quoted Palestinian sources as saying. Palestinian medics said the casualties included a child and a Palestinian police officer.

The site near Haniyeh's home that was struck in the IAF raid was a tin shack where Haniyeh's guards sleep, the Palestinian security officials said, adding that it was vacant and that no one was hurt. The Israel Defense Forces said it hit a building used by Hamas in the Shati refugee camp, and that the proximity to Haniyeh's house was incidental.

Haniyeh, wearing an exercise suit and sneakers, inspected the site, but guards pulled him away because IAF planes were still in the air.

A short time earlier, the IAF hit four Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the southern Gaza Strip, as part of continuing moves to halt the Qassam rocket fire that has plagued southern Israel for more than a week.

The air force struck a car carrying members of a rocket-launching crew in Gaza City yesterday. It also bombed two positions held by members of Hamas' Executive Force, in Gaza City and Dir al-Balah, and the offices of three money changers in Gaza City. The IDF said that the latter were used to transfer money to Hamas from Iran. Several Palestinians were wounded in these attacks. The targets also included an Islamic Jihad weapons production facility, Israel Radio reported.

Hamas remained defiant, however, vowing on Thursday night to continue the Qassam strikes that the military operation is meant to curtail.

"Rockets will be fired as long as the Zionist aggression against our people continues," said Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri. His comment came after Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas described such attacks as "pointless and needless."

At sundown Thursday, Gaza militants fired two mortar shells at the Erez crossing, a main transit point for people between Israel and Gaza. There was considerable damage to two of the processing lanes, but no one was hurt, the IDF said. Israel closed the crossing in the wake of the attack.

Israel arrests 33 Hamas members in West Bank
The IDF and the Shin Bet security service arrested 33 members of Hamas' political wing in the West Bank on Thursday as part of a broad Israeli offensive against Hamas in response to the rocket barrages on southern Israel.

Among the Hamas members were Palestinian Education Minister Nasser al-Shaer, four mayors and three members of the Palestinian parliament.

The last time Israel arrested Hamas politicians was in June 2006, immediately after Hamas kidnapped Corporal Gilad Shalit to Gaza in a cross-border raid.

Also Thursday, Palestinians opened fire on IDF soldiers carrying out an arrest operation in the West Bank city of Nablus. Soldiers returned fire, the military said. One militant was killed in the gunbattle, Army Radio reported.

Sderot emergency status extended
The Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee agreed Thursday to extend the special emergency situation declared in the Sderot area for an additional 10 days.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz declared the emergency situation in Sderot and other nearby communities on Sunday, in the wake of the ongoing Qassam fire. In addition, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that Gaza-area communities would receive frontline status.

The committee refused Thursday, however, to approve the government's request that the emergency situation be extended for an unlimited amount of time. The panel said another extension would be granted only if the government reported on the measures taken to protect the residents of Sderot and the surrounding communities.