Violence flared up in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech outlining his approach to peace in the Middle East.

On Sunday afternoon, Israeli sources said Palestinian militants fired a rocket from northern Gaza at an area near the port city of Ashkelon, causing no damage or casualties. No Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Earlier, four Palestinians were wounded in an Israeli aerial bombing which targeted smuggling tunnels under Gaza-Egypt border, local sources said.

Israeli F-16 jets dropped several bombs along the border line in southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, destroying entry shafts of five underground tunnels, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militants clashed with Israeli soldiers after they detonated an explosive device near an Israeli army jeep patrolling the security fence between Israel and central Gaza Strip, security sources said.

Palestinian rocket attacks have largely decreased after Israel ended a military offensive in the Palestinian salient on January 18 as Hamas maintained a level of self-restraint.

Also on Sunday, Palestinian paramedics found a dead body near the Israeli border in northeast Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. The medical sources said the body was identified as a Palestinian who was shot dead nearly 50 days ago apparently after trying to break into Israel.

At 8:00 PM local time (17:00 GMT), Netanyahu will deliver his speech at a university in eastern Tel Aviv in which he will try to harmonize his vision with the US calls for endorsing a Palestinian statehood and his right-wing coalition's opposition to the two-state solution.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) called on Netanyahu to declare his government's commitment to a Palestinian statehood.

The PNA "wants Netanyahu to announce his acceptance of the Israeli obligations under the Road Map," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio, referring to a US-backed plan first endorsed in 2002.

"These commitments are related to recognizing the principle of the two-state solution, recognizing all the signed peace agreements and stopping all settlement activities, including the natural growth," said Erekat.

The peace negotiations between Israel and the PNA came to a standstill last year after the government of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to rebuild more housing units into several settlements in the West Bank and around Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Israeli commentators said Netanyahu will be like "walking under the rain and trying not to get wet," referring to the dilemma that he is locked in.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu will not clearly announce his acceptance of a Palestinian statehood in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"Netanyahu is likely to say that Jerusalem is the Jewish capital that can not be divided," the Israeli media quoted some of Netanyahu's aides as saying.

Netanyahu may announce his acceptance of the Road Map but will reiterate a series of conservation and conditions to it, according to the Israeli radio. He also will call for unconditional negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2009)