The victim, a Thai national, was killed by shrapnel on Thursday while standing in a greenhouse in Netiv Haasara, a kibbutz community on the border with Gaza.
The death was the first in a year from rockets fired from Gaza, although such attacks are common. Indeed, the fatal blast that killed the 30-year-old man was the third on Thursday alone.
The attacks came on the same day that Baroness Ashton of Upholland was visiting the blockaded territory. Ashton had been inspecting a U.N. compound that was hit hard by the Israeli offensive in Gaza last year.
“I condemn any kind of violence,” she said in a statement following the attacks. “We have got to find a peaceful solution to the issues and problems. ... We need to move forward.”
The EU is regarded as one of the largest contributors of aid to the Palestinians, delivering $1.3 billion a year. However, Ashton is keen to move away from the perception that the EU is a “payer but not a player” in the Middle East.
She will join U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and key U.N. figures for a summit in Moscow next week to push for a revival of peace talks between Israel and Palestine.
The most recent row, erupted after Israel announced the construction of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as their own.
The announcement was timed as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived for a visit to try and restart indirect peace talks. David Axelrod, one of Obama’s key aides, described the timing as an “insult” to the United States, and “destructive” to efforts to rebuild peace in the region.
Ashton is only the second EU official to have visited Gaza since Israel halted an offensive in the province in January 2009, which killed over 1,000 Palestinians.
Several others have been turned away by Israeli authorities. However, hopes that her visit may have yielded more success in brokering a peace deal were dashed on Wednesday night when Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing Israeli foreign minister, told a joint press conference it was “unreasonable” for the international community to expect a halt to Jewish construction anywhere in Jerusalem.
The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007 when the militant Hamas organization took power. Western governments have been hoping for indirect negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli officials as a prelude to direct talks.
Responsibility for Thursday’s attack was claimed by a small militant group called Ansar al-Sunna. The group is believed to be part of a small contingent of ultra-radical Islamists in Gaza who regard Hamas as too moderate.
Calling themselves “salafists,” the small collection of groups believe that life should be lived as it was at the time of the Prophet Muhammed.
As well as being behind many attacks on Israel, they have also fought bloody battles with Hamas, which regards them as a threat to its rule.
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