BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip (AP) – Israeli forces on Thursday took over the remains of three abandoned Jewish settlements in the northern Gaza Strip and entered a nearby Palestinian town, creating a temporary buffer zone to prevent Palestinian militants from firing rockets at Israel.

The army last week launched its largest operation in the coastal area since it withdrew from the territory a year ago. The operation, which followed the capturing of an Israeli soldier, was expanded overnight after militants from the ruling Hamas group fired two homemade rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, which used to be out of their range.

No one was hurt in the attack on Ashkelon, a city of 110,000, but it infuriated Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who pledged the rocket strikes would have “far-reaching consequences.”

Cabinet minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the Israeli tanks and troops would avoid entering the densely populated towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun _ which are often as rocket launching grounds by militants.

An Associated Press reporter accompanying the Israeli troops said the forces had reached the outskirts of Beit Lahiya and taken over a two-story house with a family inside. An Israeli tank and several armored vehicles surrounded the house. The family was confined to the ground floor.

Gunfire and tank fire rang out in the area, and Palestinian medics said one Palestinian was killed in a shootout.

Israeli leaders said their aim is to stop the rocket fire and bring back the captured soldier, and there are no plans to reoccupy Gaza.

“We have no intention of drowning in the Gaza swamp,” said Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

Israeli artillery and aircraft assisted the ground troops, striking bases and groups of militants. Early Thursday, Hamas officials said one militant was killed and another wounded in an airstrike on a Gaza beach. The army said the air force had targeted an armed militant.

In another incident, a Hamas militant and a Palestinian policeman were killed and 11 others wounded in an explosion along the northern part of the beach. Palestinians said Israeli tanks or gunboats shelled the area. Israel denied that, but the military was checking whether an airstrike was involved.

In nearby Beit Lahiya, Palestinians fired at a car carrying a crew from the Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera, wounding two people, said Wael Dahdouh, one of the reporters in the car. The gunmen apparently thought the reporters were Israeli undercover agents, he said.

An Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday hit a group of people, killing two people and wounding several others, Palestinian officials said. The army confirmed it had carried out an airstrike in Khan Younis after Israeli forces were attacked with anti-tank missiles and a rocket. Militants gathered around the area after the strike, taking up positions with weapons.

The destroyed Jewish settlements _ Nissanit, Dugit and Elei Sinai _ are in a strategic location just along the border with Israel. Before Israel dismantled its Gaza communities, critics of the withdrawal warned that the pullout would put more Israeli cities within rocket range.

A buffer zone could be the only way to keep Israeli population centers out of rocket range. But such a zone brings back bitter memories of a similar tactic Israel used in southern Lebanon, when its forces held onto a security zone for 18 years in an attempt to prevent Hezbollah guerrillas from firing rockets at Israel.

The guerrillas still fired rockets, and the zone became a deadly battlefield. Pressure from Israelis opposed to the occupation finally forced Israel to withdraw in May 2000.

Hamas said in a statement Wednesday that the rocket fired at Ashkelon was a new, longer-range weapon that can hit targets at least 7.5 miles away. That could mean the Gaza buffer zone would have to run deeper than the area of the abandoned settlements, bringing forces into populated areas the army is reluctant to enter.

Forces also remain in southern Gaza, an area invaded after Cpl. Gilad Shalit was captured in a June 25 attack on an Israeli outpost. Their main goal is to find Shalit.

At his daily briefing, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Palestinians must release the soldier and stop the rocket attacks, but he called on Israel to show restraint so that in the future “there is the possibility of a negotiated settlement.”

Egyptian and Turkish mediators were trying to end to the worsening crisis.

The Hamas-linked militants holding Shalit have demanded that Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for information about the captive. Israel has publicly refused to negotiate with the militants holding Shalit, but could be indirectly communicating with Hamas through mediators.

In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on both sides to “step back from the brink.” He said the soldier must be released and Israel must avoid collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

Israel clamped a total closure on Gaza after the soldier was captured, trying to prevent militants from moving him out of Gaza. In the last two days, Israel has reopened two crossings to allow badly needed food and fuel into Gaza. The Gaza-Egypt border was to open briefly Thursday to allow Palestinians stuck on either side to return home.