GAZA, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Armed wing of Islamic Hamas movement Thursday resumed rocket attacks on Israel after seven Palestinians were killed in an explosion. An Israeli woman was reportedly moderately injured when missiles landed in Western Negev.

　　Four Palestinians, including a baby, were killed Thursday in a mysterious explosion in a house belonging to a Hamas commander in northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya.

　　Other fatalities involved Hamas militants who were in the house. According to medical sources, more than 25 bystanders were wounded on the street at the time of the explosion.

　　Following the blast, Hamas ordered its fighters to launch mortar shells and rockets on Israeli communities around Gaza Strip. The order was circulated via Hamas wireless radios.

　　According to Israeli media, more than 15 mortar shells were recorded to have landed on western Negev. Hamas said it also fired rockets into Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.

　　Earlier on Thursday, Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian militants who tried to attack an Israeli army post on the security fence that separates Israel from Gaza Strip in Beit Lahiya. The Israeli army also said it killed a third Palestinian who approached the fence in another area in northeast Gaza.

　　The violence flare-up comes one day after Israeli security cabinet decided to give a chance for Egyptian efforts that are intended to broker a ceasefire in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

　　The Palestinians' explanations about the blast were varied. Some of the witnesses said that an Israeli F-16 warplane dropped a bomb on a three-story house belonging to a senior Hamas militant in Beit Lahiya town.

　　Islamic Hamas movement also said the blast was caused by Israeli aircraft which targeted one of its members.

　　Other people said the house was badly destroyed due to a blast that occurred inside, adding that some of the casualties were bystanders hit while walking on the street. At least five of the wounded people were in critical condition, according to sources at Kamal Adwan hospital.

　　Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported on its website that the Israeli army denied any involvement in the raid on Ahmed Hamouda's house, a Hamas commander who once ran in municipal elections and won a seat in the town's municipal council.