Israel’s military carried out air strikes against Gaza early Sunday morning, hours after a rocket fired from the Strip broke several weeks of relative calm.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a short statement that it was attacking Gaza in retaliation for the Saturday evening missile strike.
Moments after the sortie, the army reported fresh rocket alarms in open areas around the small farming communities of Shlomit and Bnei Betzarim, which sit near the Egyptian border opposite Rafah in Gaza.
The army said it was looking into what had triggered the alerts.
Gaza’s Shehab news outlet, which is linked to the Hamas terror group, reported that anti-aircraft fire had been aimed at the Israeli aircraft.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories
Hours earlier, a projectile launched out of Gaza landed in an open field near the communities of Nahal Oz and Kfar Aza, causing no injuries or damage. It was the first such attack in a month.
The military said fighter jets targeted a weapons workshop and tunnel used by the Hamas terror group, which de facto rules the Strip.
“The workshop is used as a main site for making most of the group’s rockets in the Strip,” the IDF said in a statement.
On social media, Gazans reported hearing several rounds of air strikes near Khan Younis and Rafah in the south of the Strip around 1 a.m. Sunday.
Unconfirmed video footage appeared to show large explosions.
غارات اسرائيلية على موقع للمقاومة غرب خانيونس pic.twitter.com/7zWeVRQcp1
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) December 3, 2022
The rocket fire came as Israeli officials were reportedly concerned about potential retaliation, including in the form of rocket fire from Gaza, over the deaths of two Palestinian Islamic Jihad members.
Both PIJ and the Hamas terror group that rules the Gaza Strip threatened to hit back over the deaths of the pair, who were killed Thursday during a military raid in the West Bank.
Over the past year, the PIJ has launched rockets at Israel in response to members being killed or arrested in the West Bank.
Still, there was no immediate claim by any of the Gaza-based terror groups for the rocket fire Saturday.
In the past, Israel has responded with airstrikes against Hamas sites regardless of the group launching the attack. More rarely, it has directed its response at Islamic Jihad, if the terror group claimed responsibility.
The last time rockets were fired from the coastal enclave toward Israel was on November 3, apparently in response to the death of a PIJ member during a West Bank raid.
