Rocket kills one in Israel as top European Union diplomat visits Gaza

An al-Qaeda inspired militant group in Gaza today fired a rocket at southern Israel killing a foreign worker, as the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was visiting the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.

The rocket hit a greenhouse in a kibbutz near the southern city of Ashkelon killing a Thai farm worker, rescue agencies said.

It was the first fatal rocket strike since the end of the three-week long devastating Israeli offensive in Gaza that ended in January last year, leaving more than 1,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, dead.

The attack, claimed by little known Ansar al-Sunna Brigade, evoked a sharp reaction from Israel threatening "strong" retaliation.

"This jihadi attack is an answer to Zionist aggression against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and holy sites and our people in Jerusalem," the group said in a statement. 

EU foreign policy chief condemned the attack, saying "We need to move forward to get the peace process moving toward a successful resolution." 

Ashton did not meet any official from Hamas that has been listed as a terrorist organisation by both EU and US.  

Hamas, which took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after an armed power struggle with the Palestinian Authority, has largely acted to prevent rocket attacks emanating from there to prevent harsh Israeli responses that have a devastating impact on the area stripped of any contact with the outer world.

Senior Israeli ministers vowed a "strong" response after the attack. Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai declared Hamas responsible for the rocket that hit Moshav Nativ Ha'asara, even though it was not launched by militants from the ruling movement.

Deputy premier Silvan Shalon said: "the Israeli response will be appropriate. It will be strong." 

"This is a crossing of the red line, which Israel cannot accept," Shalon said. 

Hamas did not claim responsibility for the attack but steered clear of comments that could be seen by Palestinians as disapproving of a strike against its enemy, even though it strained an informal truce.

"The government of the Zionist enemy, which has launched a war against the Palestinian people and against holy sites and al-Aqsa mosque, bears the responsibility for all the escalation," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

The Arab populated occupied East Jerusalem has recently seen some of the worst clashes amid increasing frustration among Palestinians over the stalled peace process that could lead to the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Efforts to rekindle peace talks hit a roadblock last week when Israel announced construction of 1,600 new housing units in occupied East Jerusalem and hasn't rescinded orders despite pressure from the international community.