BICOM

A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel last night, prompting Israel to struck three strategic Gaza targets in response.

The rocket landed in an open field in the Eshkol region. There were no injuries or damage reported. Warning sirens were not sounded as Israel’s alert system determined that the projectile was heading for an unpopulated area.

Several hours after the incident, Israeli Air Force jets struck a number of strategic Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. An IDF statement said: “Israel Air Force aircraft targeted three Hamas posts in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Hamas has ruled Gaza since violently overthrowing the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. As the de facto governing power in Gaza, Israel holds Hamas responsible for rocket fire from the territory.

There has been infrequent rocket fire from Gaza ever since Operation Protective Edge in summer 2014. However, last month, tensions increased in the Gaza region after a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip at the southern Israeli town of Sderot, prompting Israeli air strikes on dozens of Hamas targets.

Also last night, another mortar from the fighting in Syria landed on the Israeli Golan Heights. Israel Radio news says that it is assumed to have been errant fire from the Syrian civil war. Nobody was injured and no damage was reported. However, it is the 11th mortar to land in Israel from Syria during the past week. Earlier this week, Syrian government forces fired missiles at Israeli jets carrying out a targeted strike in response to a mortar fire incident.

Meanwhile, it was announced on Tuesday that Israeli forces arrested a 24-year-old from Gaza at sea, who was sailing outside of the permitted zone. He admitted under questioning that he was involved in the smuggling of explosives and weapons-making equipment on behalf of Hamas and other terror groups.