An Israeli tank shell hit and badly damaged a house in the Gaza Strip at dawn on Saturday, Jan 28, witnesses and a Hamas security official said.

No one was wounded in the explosion near the Shejaya area east of Gaza City, they said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the claim, saying only that a flare had been fired in the sector.

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), meanwhile issued a statement saying it fired four mortar rounds into Israel overnight, AFP reported.