Gaza: Israeli forces strike after mortar attack
The Israeli bus was nearly empty when it was hit by the mortar, medical sources said Israeli artillery and helicopters have struck Gaza after an anti-tank missile fired from the Palestinian territory hit a bus in southern Israel, wounding a teenage boy and several others.
Israeli tanks shelled Gaza City as Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the army to act quickly. One person was killed and several injured, including a child of four.
An Israeli plane bombed a compound in northern Gaza belonging to the Islamist Hamas movement.
An Israeli attack helicopter also machine-gunned a target in Gaza for the first time since Israel's offensive more than two years ago, the Reuters news agency reports.
Anti-tank missile Hamas, which controls Gaza, said 20 people were injured, in addition to the 50-year-old man who was killed.
None of the militant groups in Gaza has said it carried out the mortar attack.
The attackers used an anti-tank missile, the Israeli army said - the first time such a weapon had been used against an Israeli civilian target.
The bus had been dropping off schoolchildren and was only carrying one passenger when it was hit, Israeli medical sources said.
Last month saw some of the worst violence since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in December 2008.
In one week in March, at least 10 Palestinians - including several civilians and children - were killed by Israeli attacks.
In the same period, militants in Gaza fired more than 80 rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel.
Hamas had pledged to try to restore a ceasefire that ended on 16 March when an Israeli air strike killed two of its militants in the Palestinian territory.
However, Israel said it had suffered "bouts of terror and rocket attacks".
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