Gaza-based militants from Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades on Tuesday claimed responsibility for firing a rocket at Israel after one of its members died in jail after being interrogated.

"In a preliminary response to the killing of our hero the prisoner Arafat Jaradat, we claim responsibility for firing a Grad rocket on Ashkelon at 6:00 am (0400 GMT)," said a statement from the group, which is loosely allied to the Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

The rocket caused some damage to a road near the city of Ashkelon but no injuries. The strike follows confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinian protesters in the West Bank since the death on Saturday of a detainee in Israeli custody, Arafat Jaraadat, 30.

"The rocket fell early in the morning near Ashkelon and did some damage to a road, without hurting anyone," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

It was the first such attack since the end of an Israeli operation late November, during which more than a thousand rockets were fired into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamist group Hamas.