A member of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas has been assassinated as Israeli forces press on with a massive invasion of the Gaza Strip. A spokesman for the Palestinian resistance movement said that a member of its military wing was killed by an Israeli missile in a refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Abd al-Rauf Nabhan, 25, was struck by a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter gunship into the Jabalya refugee camp as he tried to launch a Qassam rocket into the town of Sderot across the Gazan border. The densely populated strip of land is the focus of a massive Israeli military offensive launched 11 days ago, codenamed "Days of Penitence". Wail Dahduh, Aljazeera's correspondent in Gaza said the atmosphere in the Gaza Strip was still tense. **Demolition of homes*** "The Israeli military operation is still in progress and two resistance fighters were killed by heavily armed Israeli forces. "Israeli troops penetrated further into Bait Hanun and demolished the home of one of the resistance fighters who was assassinated by the missile. "Israeli warplanes conducted several raids during the latest violence, apparently to detonate the explosives that were planted by the Palestinian resistance..." he added. Dahduh also reported that several properties were destroyed as the Israeli army used side roads to avoid booby traps. **Israeli denial*** Israel denied it had launched an air strike on the area, with an army spokesman saying soldiers had fired on a group of Palestinians in an attempt to stop them from firing rockets. Other attacks by Israeli forces in the area have also worsened where two Palestinians were assassinated and one critically injured on Saturday when an Israeli tank fired missiles into a residential area of Shaikh Zaid in Bait Lahya, northern Gaza. Israeli military incursions and operations in residential areas have been condemned the world over and the Arab League has called on the UN to pressurise Israel to halt its attacks on Palestinian civilians. Earlier in the week, the US had vetoed a UN resolution condemning Israeli attacks and incursions into Gaza. It was the 29th resolution that the US has vetoed regarding Israel, a move which critics said gave Israel the green light to continue. Israel has assassinated over 100 people during the operation, demolished a number of homes, laid waste to farmland and seized a 9km strip in the north of the territory as a buffer zone against missile attacks. **Resistance to occupation*** Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told Aljazeera's correspondent in Gaza: "While US-led forces are bombing women and children and ruining sanctuaries in Iraq, Israeli occupation forces are doing the same in Palestine. Israel has however been killing people for the past 50 years, day and night". "The strategy of Hamas in its resistance to Israeli occupation is very clear, it is in Palestine only. Our conflict with the Israeli-Zionist entity is because they are occupying Palestine, destroying our sanctuaries and assassinating our people," he said. Since the start of the second intifada or Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation four years ago, a total of 4,467 people have been killed, including 3,439 Palestinians and 954 Israelis. **PHOTO CAPTION*** The body of Mahde Moshtaha is wheeled into al-Shifa hospital, following a helicopter missile attack by Israeli forces in Gaza City. (AFP)