Israel strikes Hamas sites after rocket fired from Gaza

JERUSALEM

Israeli forces struck a handful of Hamas sites in the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday after a missile was fired into Israel from the coastal enclave earlier the same day, according to the Israeli military.

Air-raid sirens were sounded in Israel’s Ashkelon region north of Gaza following Monday morning’s reported missile launch, the army said in a statement, adding that the projectile had fallen to earth in an open area without causing any injuries or damage.

In ostensible retaliation for the missile launch, Israeli jets struck three targets in northern Gaza, the military said, after an Israeli tank shelled another site hours earlier.

In a statement, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said a local man had been injured near the site of one of the Israeli airstrikes.

Israeli fighter jets continued their attacks over the Gaza Strip on Monday evening with airstrikes on some agricultural territories in the northern part of the coastal enclave.

No casualties reported in the evening attacks, according to medical sources.

Although rockets are sporadically fired from Gaza by smaller Palestinian resistance groups, Israel holds Hamas -- which has governed the strip since 2007 -- responsible for such actions, frequently responding by striking sites associated with the group.