Fire was exchanged between Israel and the Gaza Strip Friday, raising fears of a further escalation following one the deadliest army raids in the occupied West Bank in years on Thursday.
Israel later said that it had “targeted an underground rocket manufacturing site” belonging to Hamas and a north Gaza military base used by the group.
On Thursday, strikes by Israeli forces had led to the death of nine people during the raid on the crowded Jenin refugee camp.
AFP quoted security sources in Hamas Islamist-controlled Gaza as saying that there had been 15 strikes targeting militant sites, with no injuries reported.
The Israeli army said an initial two rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel around midnight.
The overnight rocket strikes triggered sirens in Israeli communities near the border with Gaza, warning residents to take shelter. There were no reports of injuries.
Following the retaliatory strikes by Israel hours later, another three rockets were fired from the strip, the army said. Another round of air-raid sirens were then sounded in southern Israel.
The army said that most of the Gaza rockets were intercepted by Israel’s air defence system, adding that one landed in an open area and another fell inside Gaza. Footage of Israeli interceptor missiles being launched into the night sky above the city of Ashkelon was aired by an Israeli TV channel.
No group has claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. Earlier, after the attack in Jenin killed nine Palestinians, Hamas and Islamic Jihad had vowed to respond to it.
The Palestinian Authority has announced that it was ending its security coordination with Israel. The arrangement was credited with helping to keep order in the West Bank and preventing attacks against Israel.
Responding to the situation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was not looking to escalate the matter, though he ordered security forces to be on alert.
(With inputs from agencies)
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