An Israeli army officer was killed and another soldier wounded, in the central Gaza Strip Thursday morning, an Israeli military spokesman said.
He said the officer, from an infantry unit, was killed when militants fired an anti-tank rocket as soldiers were conducting searches, reported dpa.
The officer is the seventh Israeli military fatality since Israel began its offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on December 27.
One soldier was killed by a rocket fired form the salient, and the remainder died in action after Israeli ground troops entered the Gaza Strip on January 3.
Since the beginning of the offensive more than 700 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict according to UN figures, more than half of whom have been women and children.