Gaza - Israeli forces on Saturday rolled into the southern Gaza Strip and Palestinian fighters engaged them, witnesses said.

A number of tanks and bulldozers entered the Khoza'a area in eastern Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip. The bulldozers started to level the land, destroying fields and farms in the area, residents said.

The troops withdrew around the noon after Gaza militants said they exchanged fire with the forces. There were no reports on casualties.

During the operations, the Israeli forces detonated two explosive devices that were planted by Palestinian fighters near the security fence which separates Israel and Gaza.

The Egyptian-brokered Israeli-Hamas ceasefire of last June witnessed a series of violations this week with the death of 7 Palestinians, most of them Hamas fighters, in Israeli airstrikes and ground operations near the border fence of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, fired tens of missiles into Israel following the first incursion and airstrikes on Tuesday. Hamas held back later, but other factions who reluctantly accepted the ceasefire continued firing the home-made rockets.

The ceasefire aims at easing the Gaza blockade, which Israel imposed to isolate Hamas, in exchange for halting cross-border violence. (dpa)