A rocket was fired into Israel from Gaza on Sunday, landing inside the border town of Sderot, with no casualties caused.
In response, Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Hamas military targets in the Gaza Strip. A senior IDF official said there were “approximately 50 airstrikes within two hours” and that Israel had “no intention to escalate the situation further”.
Earlier on Sunday, Hamas held a large rally in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, parading rockets through the streets and threatening to renew fighting. The terror group denied involvement, however, in Sunday’s rocket attack, with a group linked to ISIS claiming responsibility.
On Monday, Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin told Israel Radio that Israel was not interested in an escalation of violence with Hamas, but said the army would “respond appropriately if necessary”.
The rocket from Gaza was the second since July, and the 14th rocket launched into Israel in 2016.
Previous launches have been carried out by small fringe groups, including ISIS-affiliated Ajnad Bayt al-Maqdis, in order to pressure the Hamas rulers to raise tensions with Israel.
