Israeli bulldozers flattened Palestinian homes to ensure that they would not be used as positions for mortar fire against Israeli targets, a military source said.

Late Thursday an Israeli helicopter shot a missile at the house of a Palestinian in Rafah, also in the south of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian official said, adding that owner Daud Abu Mohsen ran a joiner's workshop.

But an Israeli army spokesman told AFP the building was an arms store, containing mortar shells belonging to the radical Islamic Hamas movement.

Earlier on Thursday evening 11 Israeli soldiers were slightly wounded by mortar fire in the Gaza Strip. Responsibility for the action near the Netzer Hazani settlement close to Khan Yunis was claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades.