Israel targeted Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip by air and with tank fire Sunday after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave crashed into the Israeli city of Sderot.
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The rocket, which was launched on Sunday afternoon, caused no damage or injuries.
Lt. Col Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said the operation was meant “to bring quiet to the people of southern Israel”.
Officially referred to as the Mavi Marmara Compensation Bill, it normalises ties that were broken when 10 Turks died after Israeli security forces stormed a ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists in 2010.
A small armed faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, Israel’s Channel 2 television reported, but Israel holds the Hamas group responsible for all attacks from the territory it rules.
Huge explosions could be heard across the border by Israelis in the communities near the Gaza border. Israeli police later arrived to the scene where the rocket landed and closed off the area, an Israeli police spokesperson said in a statement.
Israel and the Hamas militant group fought a 50-day war in the summer of 2014.
According to the Israeli army, 14 rockets have been fired into Israel in 2016.
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In the southern Gaza city of Rafah, hundreds of masked Hamas militants held a parade to mark the anniversary of the deaths of three senior members killed during the 2014 war.
