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Israel Launches Gaza Airstrike On Hamas Site

Israel Launches Gaza Airstrike On Hamas Site

Israel has said it has carried out an airstrike in the Gaza Strip on what it called a "Hamas terror infrastructure site".

It was in response to a rocket fired from Gaza into southern Israel on Friday, the military said.

Residents reported hearing two explosions early on Saturday morning in the southern Khan Yunis region, an area that contains training sites for Palestinian militants.

Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said the military "will not permit any attempt to undermine the security and jeopardise the well being of the civilians of Israel".

Hamas is the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza. Its spokesman there, Sami Abu Zuhri called the attack a "severe escalation".

"Hamas has warned Israel against the repetition of such irresponsible actions and calls on international community to prevent acts like the last Israeli aggression on Gaza," he said.

It was the first strike on the Palestinian territory since this summer's conflict, when Israel and Hamas fought a 50-day war between July and August.

Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza fired thousands of rockets and mortars into Israel, which responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion.

During the course of Operation Protective Edge, nearly 2,200 Palestinians died.

UN figures suggest at least 1,523 of those killed were civilians.

Six Israeli civilians and 66 Israeli soldiers also died.

On Friday, fierce clashes erupted in the West Bank between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces at a military checkpoint and near the village of Turmus Aya. No injuries were reported.

The village was the site of a Palestinian-Israeli scuffle earlier this month during which Palestinian Cabinet minister Ziad Abu Ein collapsed. He later died en route to hospital.