Farm worker killed in Gaza rocket attack

Palestinian militants killed an Israeli farm worker today in their first rocket attack from Gaza since last year's Israeli offensive.

Israel's emergency service said the dead man was from Thailand and employed in an agricultural community just north of Gaza.

The attack came on the same day as a visit to Gaza by Europe's top diplomat, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the first by a senior official in more than a year.

She had just crossed into Gaza when the attack took place.

A small Islamist faction calling itself Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the rocket.

The thousands of crude rockets that hit Israel over a seven-year period sparked the Israeli three-week offensive in Gaza in late 2008 and January 2009. The brief war devastated Gaza, killing 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians. Thirteen Israelis were killed.

Rocket attacks have dropped steeply since the campaign.