Israel has launched airstrikes on a Hamas site in the northern Gaza Strip after two rockets were fired into southern Israel.
Three air strikes were carried out by the Israeli air force on Friday evening, reportedly targeting a Hamas training facility.
The attack happened after two rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israeli towns. The first was fired early on Friday and exploded near Sderot, damaging a house and a nearby bus, but no one was injured. The second rocket was fired just before midnight on Friday and was intercepted by the iron dome device just over Ashkelon.
A Salafist group known as the Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigades, who support but have not sworn allegiance to Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks.
The Israeli Defense Force spokesman’s office said the rocket fire would be treated with “utmost severity” and, despite the Salafist group taking responsibility, it still held Hamas responsible.
“The terrorist group Hamas is the sovereign, and it carries the responsibility,” a statement from the office said.
The mayor of Sderot, Alon Davidi, told Haaretz newspaper he expected the Israeli leadership to act.
“We expect the prime minister and defence minister to act decisively and firmly to achieve quiet in the area and the restoration of normal life for the residents.”
In May, Hamas launched a serious crackdown on the Salafist group, imprisoning dozens of its members. The same month the group carried out a series of bomb attacks that targeted both foreign offices and Hamas. A Salafist-linked mosque in Deir al-Balah was then destroyed by Hamas and in response the Salafist group fired rockets into Israel to try to put pressure on Hamas to release its members.
The last attempt before Friday to fire a rocket into Israel failed, exploding inside Gaza instead. The Salafist group claimed responsibility for the 1 September attack, saying it was a response to clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the West Bank city of Jenin.
The Israeli air force targeted a Hamas weapons factory in central Gaza in August after another rocket launched from there exploded in Israel, causing no damage.
There has been a week of violence in Jerusalem following the Jewish New Year and an Israeli government ban on two Muslim groups who act as civilian guards inside Islam’s third holiest site, al-Aqsa Mosque.
Protests broke out on 12 September, the eve of the Jewish New Year holiday of Rosh Hashana, when Palestinians barricaded themselves inside al-Aqsa Mosque and threw rocks and fireworks at police. Officers said they found pipe bombs.
Days of tension ensued around Jerusalem’s flashpoint religious site – known as Haram al-Sharif to Muslims and Temple Mount to Jews – resulting in Israel deploying up to 800 extra police around the city.
On Friday, the Israeli government announced that men aged under 40 would not be allowed to enter the al-Aqsa mosque to pray. More than 21 Palestinians and three Israeli border police were wounded during clashes throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem after Friday prayers.
The three wounded officers were in a moderate condition and one of the Palestinians was seriously wounded in East Jerusalem’s Jabal Mukaber neighbourhood.
The police were reportedly attacked while chasing a group of young Palestinians who had been throwing burning tyres into rubbish containers. Eight Palestinians were later arrested for throwing stones.
