Gaza Strip ? A 64-year-old Palestinian grandmother blew herself up near Israeli troops sweeping through northern Gaza on Thursday, and eight other Palestinians were killed in a day of clashes and rocket fire.

The militant Hamas, which is in charge of the Palestinian government, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack and identified the bomber as Fatma Omar An-Najar. Her relatives said she was 64 – by far the oldest of the more than 100 Palestinian suicide bombers who have targeted Israelis over the past six years.

Israeli forces were moving through the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on the second day of an operation to stem rocket fire from the coastal strip into southern Israel. They spotted a woman acting suspiciously, the military said. Soldiers threw a stun grenade, a weapon that makes a loud nose but causes no damage. The woman then set off explosives she was carrying, killing herself and slightly wounding two soldiers.

At the compound where her extended family lives near Jebaliya camp, her oldest daughter Fatheya explained the bomber’s motives.

“They (Israelis) destroyed her house, they killed her grandson – my son. Another grandson is in a wheelchair with an amputated leg,” she said.