The Israeli Air Force attacked the Gaza Strip early this morning, just hours after the A rocket fired at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut short a campaign speech for internal party elections and take shelter.
Israel's military said planes and helicopters hit several targets belonging to Islamic extremist Hamas "including military compounds" in response to yesterday's rocket fire.
The Hamas-linked Shehab news site reported that the Israeli attack took place around an hour after midnight near the port west of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip and that a "resistance location" in the north of the Palestinian territory was targeted.
There were no reports of casualties from the authorities in Gaza, but it was stated that there was no one in the targeted areas.
On Wednesday evening, Palestinian extremists broke the relative calm in Gaza and fired a rocket towards Ashkelon.
The missile was shot down by the Iron Dome defense system, the Israeli military said.
It happened in the middle of the campaign in Ashkelon and Netanyahu had to evacuate to a bomb shelter along with dozens of his supporters to whom he was addressing.
It is the second time since September that Netanyahu had to be evacuated due to rocket fire from Gaza in the middle of a campaign in the south of the country, Israeli media remind.
Two rockets were fired at Ashdod and nearby Ashkelon from Gaza a week before Israel's parliamentary elections in September, setting off sirens and prompting Netanyahu to walk off the stage during an address to supporters of his conservative Likud.
Last night, the Prime Minister returned to the stage after 15 minutes and threatened the extremists behind the attack.
"The person who fired the rockets last time is no longer with us. The person who did it this time should start packing," Netanyahu said, alluding to the targeted killing of Baha Abu al-Ata, the Islamic Jihad commander in November who was believed to have ordered the rocket launch in September.
No Palestinian organization has claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack.
Such sporadic attacks and Israeli aerial retaliation occur frequently despite an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire after two days of conflict in November.
The Israeli military said today that Hamas, which rules Gaza, is responsible for all attacks from the territory.
Israeli politicians generally refrain from announcing their visits to the area near Gaza out of concern that it could attract attacks.
However, this was not the case in September and yesterday Netanyahu announced his arrival, ahead of today's elections for Likud leader.
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