GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli shelling killed three people including an elderly man in the northern Gaza Strip late Sunday, witnesses said.

The bodies of shepherds Ibrahim Abu Said, 91, and Ismail Abu Odeh, 21, were taken to a hospital in Beit Hanoun, medics said. Ibrahim was apparently Ismail's grandfather.

An Israeli military spokesman said forces identified a number of suspects attempting to fire an RPG toward an Israeli position. He said forces fired on the Palestinians, apparently hitting them.

Two projectiles landed in the western Negev hours earlier, officials from the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council said. The Israeli military said three projectiles landed in Israel on Sunday.

The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed to have launched six mortars toward Israel on Saturday. The Israeli military described the incident as a light exchange of fire.

Six airstrikes hit Gaza on Friday, the first day of Eid Al-Fitr, destroying three municipal buildings in Gaza City and two smuggling tunnels in the southern Strip at Rafah near the Egyptian border.

Israeli military officials said the strikes were in retaliation for projectiles.