Israeli forces enter Palestinian territory after grenade attack

Israeli forces went deep into Palestinian territory on Friday to destroy a police post and level farmland after a grenade attack on an Israeli outpost in Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

Israeli forces went deep into Palestinian territory on Friday to destroy a police post and level farmland after a grenade attack on an Israeli outpost in Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

Earlier, Palestinians in a car threw hand grenades at an Israeli army position near the Kissufim crossing point between Gaza and Israel, seriously wounding a solider, according to Israel radio. Soldiers fired at the car as it sped away.

In response, Israeli tanks accompanied a bulldozer into Palestinian­controlled territory and started destroying a Palestinian police position, including firing positions, Palestinian officials and Israeli army radio reported. Palestinians said the Israeli forces went about 700 metres into Palestinian­controlled territory, their deepest incursion.

The Israeli military said soldiers destroyed a police post after the car escaped there.

Israeli incursions into Palestinian territory have drawn stiff criticism from the U.S. State Department in the past. Israel has explained that the operations are aimed at removing cover for Palestinian gunmen.

In a telephone call to The Associated Press, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical group, claimed responsibility for the grenade attack, saying it was retaliation for the death of a 4­month­old baby Monday in an Israeli shelling attack.