Israeli warplanes struck several Hamas military sites, including a training base and naval compound in the Gaza Strip early Friday. The strike came after a rocket launched from Gaza on Thursday night hit a yeshiva building in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, escalating tensions along the border just weeks after a cease-fire.
There was no immediate comment from the IDF, or reports of casualties on either side.
A cease-fire reached in early May, which ended the worst spate of violence between the sides since a 2014 war, has begun to unravel in recent days. Early Thursday, the IDF said fighter jets targeted an underground Hamas tunnel in Gaza after air defenses intercepted an incoming rocket.
"There'll be another [military] campaign in the Gaza Strip," Immigration and Absorption Minister Yoav Gallant told Channel 13 News.
"We will decide the timing and we will decide the conditions. And I will not play into Hamas' hands when it is the one that wants this [escalation]," he said.
The flare-up in violence began shortly after the IDF announced Wednesday that it had closed Gaza's offshore waters to Palestinian fishermen until further notice in response to the launch of incendiary balloons that set fire to stretches of Israeli farmland.
Egyptian mediation and Qatari cash infusions have delivered short-lived truces. A Qatari envoy had been expected in Gaza this week with stipends for needy families.
