An Israeli soldier was killed by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, on the seventh day of a major conflict in and around the Palestinian enclave, a military spokesman said.

"I can confirm that an IDF (army) soldier was killed this morning in Eshkol regional council as a result of rocket fire," the spokesman told AFP, referring to an area which flanks the southern part of the Israel-Gaza border.

His death raises to four the number of Israelis killed in Gaza rocket fire since November 14, but only the first army fatality. On Thursday, a rocket strike on the Israeli town of Kiryat Malachi hit a house, killing two men and a woman.

A statement from the military named the dead soldier as 18-year-old Yosef Fartuk and said he was from the West Bank settlement Emmanuel.

Health officials in Gaza said a total of more than 125 Palestinians have been killed and over 1,000 wounded since Israel began its relentless bombing campaign on November 14 in a bid to stamp out cross-border rocket fire by militants.