Rockets fired from Lebanon landed inside northern Israel on Thursday, authorities on both sides of the border said, the first time the Jewish state has received fire from its northern frontier since it began its campaign against militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said at least three rockets fell Thursday around the town of Nahariya, about eight kilometres south of the Lebanese border. Rescue services said least one person was lightly wounded. Lebanese security forces told Reuters that between three and five rockets had been fired.

Israel's army fired five artillery shells back at Lebanon, an Israeli military spokesperson said, in "a pinpoint response at the source of fire."

It was not immediately clear who was behind the rocket attacks from Lebanon, but similar launches from Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon led to the 34-day conflict in 2006 between Israel and the militant and political group.

The attacks came after Israel's military launched more air strikes early Thursday in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, even as talks were expected to begin in Cairo over an Egyptian-French ceasefire proposal.

Palestinians reported more than 20 air strikes around Gaza overnight, in which at least one person was killed and 10 were wounded.

Explosions were heard from southern Gaza, according to media reports from the Israel-Gaza border, while Arab television station Al Jazeera reported 15 people were injured in a nighttime strike at a mosque.

There were also reports of clashes between Israeli armoured forces and Hamas militants in southern Gaza. Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza, making it difficult to get an accurate picture of the situation in the coastal territory.

The Palestinian death toll since the beginning of the Israeli assault has now reached nearly 700, according to Gaza medical officials and UN estimates. Ten Israelis, including three civilians, have been also been killed.

Israeli envoy to arrive in Cairo

Late Wednesday, Egypt's UN ambassador, Maged Abdelaziz, said his country would host separate talks with delegations from Israel, Hamas and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, which is not directly involved in the conflict.

Israeli Defence Ministry official Amos Gilad will travel to Cairo on Thursday to hear more about the truce proposal.

The plan, introduced by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, calls for an immediate ceasefire, an end to rocket attacks on Israel, the opening of Gaza border crossings and an end to weapons smuggling into Gaza from neighbouring Egypt.

Israel has said that it accepts the principles of the proposal but that it needs guarantees Hamas will not rearm during the ceasefire period. Hamas has said it wants border crossings into Gaza reopened.

Israel launched its military campaign with a series of air strikes on Dec. 27, followed by a ground incursion by thousands of its troops into Gaza, in response to the resumption of Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel. The rocket attacks restarted shortly after a six-month truce between the two sides expired.

Hamas took power in Gaza in June 2007 after overrunning Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in fierce fighting. The battles led Abbas to dissolve a coalition government between Fatah and Hamas that was created after Hamas's victory in the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Many Gazans are living without electricity or running water, and thousands have been displaced from their homes. Hospitals are overcrowded, and the UN is urging that patients be allowed to be taken out of Gaza.

The World Bank has warned that fuel and electricity shortages have shut down almost all sewage pumps in Gaza, raising the possibility of a health crisis.