Palestinian rocket fire draws Israeli air strikes in Gaza

Palestinian militants fired a rocket toward a city in southern Israel

Palestinian militants fired a rocket toward a city in southern Israel on Saturday, drawing Israeli air strikes, the Israeli military said, after months of relative calm in the area.

Qazet.az reports that, there were no immediate reports of casualties in Gaza or Israel, which intercepted the rocket that was launched toward the city of Ashkelon, setting off air raid sirens and sending residents to bomb shelters.

Israel said Hamas, the Islamist militant group which controls Gaza, fired the rocket. There was no immediate response from Hamas, nor a claim of responsibility from any of the enclave's other militant groups.

"In response to the rocket attack, Israel Defence Forces aircraft struck a number of Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip," the Israeli military said in a statement.