In a statement, Jihad's Saraya al-Quds Brigades claimed Tuesday morning its responsibility for launching a homemade rocket at Ashkelon city in southwestern Israel, saying that they targeted the power plant of the Israeli coastal city.

Israeli sources said rockets landed near a strategic site in Ashkelon, adding that five rockets were launched from Gaza on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement has also claimed responsibility for shelling southern Israel with three rockets.

Following the attacks, Israeli troops stationed on the northern border of Gaza opened fire on Palestinian farmers, wounding at least one, according to a paramedic source.

Palestinian militants in Gaza said they launched the rocket attacks in response to the Israeli raids in the West Bank where no truce has been declared there.

In late November, Israel and the Palestinians reached a ceasefire deal covering the Gaza Strip that witnessed months of Israeli offensive.

On Tuesday morning, the Israeli forces arrested a senior Islamic Jihad leader in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

Eyewitnesses said that a group of soldiers surrounded the house of Mahmoud al-Sa'di in the city's refugee camp and detained the leader, who had been wanted by Israel for years and survived several assassination attempts.

Meanwhile, Israel has expelled a prisoner Abdullah Yassin from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip a few days after it agreed with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to end such issue.

The expulsion came after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed with Abbas in their last meeting to return several West Bank militants who were expelled to Gaza in 2002.