Jerusalem: Stepping up attacks in the Middle East, Palestinian militants fired home-made rockets which landed at a kindergarten in Southern Israel, killing two people, including a three-year-old child.

Hours after Palestinians attacked an Army post in Southern Gaza, scores of Qassam rockets were fired by Palestinian militants at border town of Sderot today (Jun 28, 2004), killing a school child and a 50-year-old man.

One rocket hit around 1030 IST landed near a kindergarten in the Neveh Eshkol neighbourhood and the second hit a nearby coffee shop, media reports said.

The first rocket landed on a street between the Lilach and Yasmin nursery schools as children were being dropped off. The three-year-old boy was just a metre away from the site of the impact, they said, adding the blast blew out the windows of the nursery schools.

Emergency services said one of the rockets landed just metres away from the man, killing him on the spot.

The sidewalk outside the nurseries was stained with blood. A man's sandal lay on the ground, in a pool of blood, near a hat that had a balloon attached to it, reports said.

Seven people, including the toddler's mother, were wounded in the rocket attack, for which Hamas claimed responsibility.

Hamas armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement that four Qassams had been fired and that they had "reached their targets by causing the death of two Zionists and wounding others".

The rockets landed in the desert town of of Sderot - a kilometer from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's private ranch. Sharon was headed towards Jerusalem when the rockets landed; media reports quoted Government officials as saying.

The second missile hit a small commercial centre, blowing out car windows, but causing no injuries.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has called an emergency Cabinet meeting following the attacks, reports said.

The rockets were fired a few hours after militants carried out a well-planned attack in the Gaza Strip, blowing up an Israeli Army outpost and killing one soldier. Israel today morning fired missiles at two metal workshops in the coastal area, causing some damage but no serious injury.

Israel also re-imposed travel restrictions in Gaza, cutting the Strip into three parts and preventing travel between the Northern and Southern areas.

The attack came a day after Israeli troops killed eight armed Palestinians, including the commander of Yasser Arafat's Fatah affiliated al-Aqsa Martyr's brigade in Nablus.

In retaliation, Israel launched two separate missile strikes at metal workshops in Gaza City early today morning saying they were being used by Hamas and other militant groups to make weapons, including home-made rockets.

Hamas said the explosion came as revenge for Israel's assassination for the group's founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin in March and his successor Abdel Aziz Rantisi a month later.

The fresh attacks came as Egypt was trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and the militants ahead of a planned Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.