GAZA, March 19 (NNN-KUNA) — EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton has said that the European organisation rejects all forms of violence, alluding to the rocket attack waged from Gaza at Israel Thursday that killed a foreign worker.

Speaking at a press conference at the Palestinian refugee camp of Jabaliya, she condemned all forms of violence, saying that a peaceful solution had to be found to all of the region’s problems.

“We must work together to bring peace to the region,” she said, adding that she spoke to leaders in the region during her tour that it was clear that peace was the only solution.

Ashton said that there was a lot of work that needed to be done in order to end this situation, and reiterated the EU’s commitment to reaching a peaceful solution in the region.

In the first hour that Ashton arrived in the Gaza Strip, Israel announced that a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip killed a Thai worker in the southern Israeli village of Netiv Ha’asara.

Ashton’s visit is the first by a high-level European official to the besieged Strip.

During the three hours that she was here, Ashton visited Jabaliya and witnessed the Israeli destruction there. She also visited a school and met UNRWA representatives, as well as a food distribution centre.

The EU official is expected to head to Moscow Friday to participate in the Quartet meeting there.

Ashton earlier arrived in the Gaza Strip, crossing through Beit Hanoun, to get a first hand look at the situation here.

Last week, Israel announced that it had made an exception and allowed Ashton and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit Gaza.

This is the last leg of Ashton’s tour, which took her to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the West Bank.

Meanwhile, the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility for firing rockets at southern Israel.

The Ansar Al-Sunna Brigades also said in a statement that its activists targeted the city of Ashkelon.

The Saladdin Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for launching a home-made projectile at the Israeli town of Sderot in the western Negev.

Palestinian fractions are firing rockets in retaliation for Israel’s violation of holy sites in Jerusalem.

On Wednesday, Palestinian rockets wounded a number of Israelis in Sderot.

– NNN-KUNA

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