Terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into southern Israel on Monday night, striking an empty field, causing no injuries or damage, the military said.
The launch triggered sirens in the fields near the border fence where the rocket hit in the Eshkol region of southern Israel, but not in any populated areas, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The IDF retaliated to the rocket attack with strikes on Hamas sites in southern Gaza, with both tanks and aircraft.
According to the military, an IDF aircraft bombed “underground infrastructure” belonging to the terror group near the city of Khan Younis, causing large explosions.
In addition, the IDF said its tanks bombed a number of Hamas observation posts near the border, east of Rafah.
The exchange came amid rising tensions between Israel and terror groups in the Strip, including threats of military action by the latter, apparently over delays in the transfer of Qatari aid money to Gaza, as well as the Israeli government’s plans to annex portions of the West Bank.
In recent days, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the two most powerful terror groups in Gaza, have threatened to step up clashes along the border, following months of relative calm in the area.
Earlier on Monday, senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil called for “the annexation project to be confronted with resistance in all forms.”
Hamas deputy political chief Saleh al-Arouri told the Hamas-linked al-Resalah TV channel that “mass actions” were being planned “in all regions,” in protest against Israel’s planned annexation.
“We cannot exclude the possibility that — in the wake of Israeli aggression — matters may reach a point of escalation in the confrontation, which might lead to military escalation,” al-Arouri said.
Hamas is willing to work with any group to coordinate anti-annexation efforts, al-Arouri said, including the Palestinian Authority.
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