Israel strikes Gaza after Hamas fires rockets into sea

Israel early on Sunday launched air strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, a day after rockets were fired from the Hamas-ruled encalve.

Video filmed in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, showed three huge explosions and fighter jets could be heard flying overhead. There was no immediate confirmation on possible casualties.

Israel alleged that the attacks targeted a "rocket manufacturing facility" and a "military post for Hamas". It also blamed the militant Islamic group for any violence emanating from the territory it controls.

The air strikes came after two rockets were fired from Gaza on Saturday, which landed in the Mediterranean Sea off central Israel.

It was not clear whether the rockets were meant to hit Israel, but Gaza-based militant groups often test-fire missiles toward the sea. There were no reports of casualties from Saturday’s rocket launches.

Apart from a single incident in September, there has been no cross-border rocket fire since a cease-fire ended an 11-day war bombardment of the enclave by Israel.

The ceasefire, brokered by Egypt and other mediators, has been fragile.

Hamas says Israel did not take serious steps to ease the blockade it imposed on Gaza with Egypt’s help when the Islamic movement seized control of the coastal enclave in 2007.

Tension are also high as other Palestinian groups, like the smaller but more hardline Islamic Jihad, threaten military escalation if Israel doesn’t end the administrative detention of a Palestinian prisoner who has been on a hunger strike for over 130 days.