Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said on Saturday he does not believe an Israel Defense Forces assessment that a pair of rockets fired at Tel Aviv two days earlier was launched by mistake.

“We have not received any explanation for the mistake, but personally I do not believe that it was a mistake,” the top Likud minister said during an onstage interview at a cultural event in the central town of Ra’anana.

In response to the rockets, Israeli war planes hit over 100 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday and Friday morning.

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Hanegbi said: “Even for mistakes, if that is indeed what it was, one must pay. We stopped after 100 targets were destroyed, but we have countless other targets if necessary.”

The rockets fired toward Tel Aviv were the first such occurrence since a major conflict in 2014, and did not hit residential areas and caused no direct injury.

An IDF assessment found that the rockets were possibly fired toward the coastal city by mistake, and that low-level Hamas forces were responsible for the launches. It was not clear if the IDF believed it was a technical malfunction or human error.

On Thursday, a Hamas official told The Times of Israel that the terror group “has no interest in an escalation” with Israel. The official said he had “no idea” who fired rockets toward Tel Aviv.

The Hamas-run interior ministry called the rocket fire “outside the national consensus” and said it would exact measures against those behind it.

On Friday, Channel 13 reported that low-level Hamas operatives “messed with” a Gaza beach rocket launcher that was set up to target Tel Aviv in the event of future conflict, causing two Fajr-5 missiles to fire.

News of rocket sirens blaring in Tel Aviv broke as Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders were meeting with an Egyptian delegation trying to mediate eased Israeli economic restrictions on Gaza, the report said.

The Egyptians then called Israeli defense chiefs and relayed they had been told the launch was a mistake. Israel told the Egyptian delegation to leave Gaza — the delegates crossed into Israel at the Erez border crossing — and then began its retaliatory strikes on Hamas targets.

Late Friday morning, Palestinian media and the Kan public broadcaster reported that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire. There was no confirmation from Israel.

Hanegbi also took issue with criticism from political opponents including Blue and White chair and former army chief of staff Benny Gantz and New Right head Naftali Bennett, who said that Israel’s response had not been forceful enough.

“Our response was strong and firm, so when I hear that some are asking for even stronger action, I assume that our strong and powerful attack, which did not lead to casualties, was not enough for them,” he said, suggesting that rivals were judging success by the body count on the Palestinian side.

“We acted in a responsible and reasonable manner. We have no desire to be dragged into war,” Hanegbi added. </s> By AFP - Nov 13,2018 - Last updated at Nov 13,2018

A bus set ablaze after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, at the Israel-Gaza border near the kibbutz of Kfar Aza, on Monday (AFP photo)

GAZA — Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip killed three Palestinians on Monday after a barrage of rocket fire towards its territory from the enclave, as renewed violence threatened to derail efforts to restore calm.

Israel said it had so far struck more than 20 sites in response to some 80 launches from the Hamas-run territory, reportedly rockets and mortars.

Missile defences had intercepted a number of the rockets, the military said.

The forces said an Israeli bus was hit by fire from the Gaza Strip. Medics reported one person severely wounded.

Medics also said six people from the southern Israeli city of Sderot were lightly wounded.

Israeli forces said a rocket hit a house in Netivot, another southern Israeli town.

Gaza's health ministry said three Palestinians were killed in the Israeli strikes.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine group said two were of its members.

Hamas, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire on behalf of all Palestinian groups in Gaza, saying it was in revenge for a deadly Israeli military operation late Sunday.

On Sunday, a clash erupted during an Israeli special forces operation in the Gaza Strip that killed seven Palestinians, including a local commander for Hamas' armed wing, and an Israeli police officer.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short a trip to Paris and rushed home as tensions rose, and on Monday convened a meeting of security chiefs.

Israel had stressed its covert operation on Sunday was an intelligence-gathering mission and "not an assassination or abduction", but Hamas strongly denounced it and vowed revenge.

Israel signalled that Sunday’s mission did not go as planned and resulted in the clash, which Palestinian officials said included Israeli air strikes.

In the immediate aftermath of the clash, Israel said it identified 17 launches — likely rockets or mortars — towards its territory from Gaza, with three intercepted by missile defences. No injuries were reported.

Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, said the Israeli special forces team had infiltrated near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip in a civilian car.

Al Qassam agents stopped it and wanted to search it, realised it was an Israeli operation and confronted them, it said in a statement.

An exchange of fire followed in which local Al Qassam commander Nour Baraka was killed along with another member, it said.

The car then attempted to flee and Israeli aircraft provided covering fire.

An Israeli helicopter landed near the fence and took away the special forces troops, according to Al Qassam.

Israeli forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus declined to comment on Al Qassam account “because of the sensitive nature of the operation”.

Israel provided few details on Sunday’s operation, saying it was carried out by special forces and resulted in an “exchange of fire”.

A funeral was held for the seven Palestinians on Monday attended by thousands, including masked Al Qassam members carrying rifles, some firing into the air.

On the Israeli side of the border, residents said they had stayed close to shelters throughout the night.

“I was sitting in my living room and around 10pm or 11pm, I suddenly heard the sound of helicopter gunships firing,” said Gadi Yarkoni, head of a regional council in the area and a resident of Nirim Kibbutz.

“It was right above the village I’m living in. It was very unpleasant.”

The clashes came after months of deadly unrest along the Gaza-Israel border had appeared to be calming.

Recent weeks have seen Israel allow Qatar to provide the Gaza Strip with millions of dollars in aid for salaries as well as fuel to help ease an electricity crisis.

Before the flare-up, Netanyahu had defended his decision to allow Qatar to transfer the cash to Gaza despite criticism from within his own government over the move, saying he wanted to avoid a war if it was not necessary.

Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu’s education minister and right-wing rival, compared the cash flow to “protection money paid to criminals”.

Israel and Palestinians in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008, and recent months have raised fears of a fourth.

Deadly clashes have accompanied major protests along the Gaza-Israel border that began on March 30.

At least 230 Palestinians have since been killed by Israeli fire, the majority shot during protests and clashes, while others died in tank fire or air strikes.

Two Israeli forces personelle have been killed in that time.

Egyptian and UN officials have been mediating between Israel and Hamas in an effort to reach a long-term truce deal. </s> KFAR SABA, Israel (AP) — An early morning rocket fired from the Gaza Strip demolished a house in central Israel on Monday, wounding seven people and prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut short a trip to Washington. The military quickly mobilized troops and called up reserves, setting the stage for a potential major conflagration shortly before Israel’s upcoming elections.

The rocket destroyed a residential home in the farming community of Mishmeret, north of the city of Kfar Saba, wounding six members of a family. The Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people overall, including two women who were moderately wounded. The others, including two children and an infant, had minor wounds.

The sounds of air raid sirens jolted residents of the Sharon area, northeast of Tel Aviv, from their sleep shortly after 5 a.m., sending them scurrying to bomb shelters. A strong sound of an explosion followed.

The Israeli military said militants from Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement fired the rocket from one of their launching pads in southern Gaza Strip, near Rafah. Maj. Mika Lifshitz, a military spokeswoman, said it was a self-manufactured rocket with a range of 120 kilometers (75 miles). She added that two armor and infantry brigades were being mobilized to the Gaza front and that a limited drafting of reserves was also taking place.

“There has been a criminal attack on the State of Israel and we will respond forcefully,” he said. “In a few hours I will meet with President Trump. I will return to Israel immediately afterward.”

Anticipating a strong Israeli response, Gaza’s Hamas leaders have apparently gone underground. Witnesses reported seeing Hamas evacuating its personnel from government premises. Hamas also announced that its Gaza chief, Yehiya Sinwar, had cancelled a scheduled public speech. Israel also shut down its main crossings into Gaza and imposed restrictions on fishing off the Gazan coast.

Monday’s attack came 10 days after rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel’s densely populated commercial capital of Tel Aviv. The Israeli military at the time struck back and the sides appeared to be hurtling toward another confrontation. But Gaza’s Hamas leaders said the rocket was fired accidently and calm was quickly restored.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday’s attack, but it would seem to be much harder to dismiss the latest incident as another misfire.

A possible trigger could be a prison riot late Sunday when Hamas-affiliated prisoners stabbed an Israeli guard in the neck in southern Israel. Israeli guards moved in to subdue the rioters, wounding about a dozen prisoners, three of them seriously. In a statement, Hamas called for an end to the crackdown.

“We do not yet have a full understanding of who exactly ordered the firing of the rocket,” said Eran Lerman, a former deputy director at Israel’s National Security Council. “But clearly this is no longer something that can be explained away as a mistake or a technical failure.”

Gaza is controlled by Hamas, an Islamic militant Palestinian group that seeks Israel’s destruction and possesses a large arsenal of rockets and missiles capable of striking deep inside Israel. The territory is home to other Palestinian militant groups, including Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed armed organization that also has a formidable rocket arsenal.

Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies and have fought three wars since the group seized power in the strip in 2007. Smaller flare-ups have occurred sporadically since Israel and Hamas fought their last war in 2014. Israel says it holds Hamas responsible for all fire coming out of the coastal territory.

The outburst comes at a sensitive time for both sides. Israel is holding national elections in 15 days. Netanyahu, who also served as defense minister, is locked in a tight fight for re-election and has faced heavy criticism from his opponents for what they say has been an ineffective response to Gaza militants.

“Israel’s deterrence has collapsed, and it has to be said in all honesty Netanyahu has failed against Hamas,” said Education Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the Yamin HeHadash faction in Netanyahu’s coalition. “Netanyahu is a good prime minister but a failed defense minister.”

In Gaza, Hamas has come under rare public criticism for the harsh conditions in the territory. An Israel-Egyptian blockade, combined with sanctions by the rival Palestinian Authority and mismanagement by the Hamas government have fueled an economic crisis. The territory’s residents have little desire for another war with Israel.

Egypt, Qatar and United Nations are trying to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas but that effort has yet to bring about an agreement. At the same time, there has been an uptick in violence in the West Bank over the past week, with a stabbing and shooting attack that left two Israelis dead near a West Bank settlement and Israel’s killing of two Palestinians it said attacked troops. </s> JERUSALEM: In response to rocket attacks that took place in the Southern city of Beersheba and greater Tel Aviv area on Wednesday, the Israel defence forces have bombed several targets in Gaza.

IDF spokesperson Lt.Col. Jonathan Conricus said "There are only two organizations in Gaza that have this caliber of rocket: Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It's not hard to narrow down who's behind it", reports The Times of Israel. However, in a joint statement, Hamas and PIJ publicly condemned the rocket attack, saying it was "irresponsible" and threatened to derail an Egypt-led negotiation effort. The IDF said it bombed some 20 targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including an attack tunnel being dug toward Israel from outside the city of Khan Younis.

The entrance to a naval tunnel, which would be used by Hamas's naval commando unit, was also destroyed in the retaliatory airstrikes.

Israeli air force jets bombed a number of weapons factory, military bases and other facilities connected to Hamas's tunnel-building efforts.

Palestinian media reported that the retaliatory strikes hit throughout the Gaza Strip in southern Gaza in Rafah and Khan Younis, around the central Gaza City and in the north of the enclave near Beit Lahiya.

Three people were moderately wounded in the strikes near Rafah, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

An Israeli aircraft also targeted a group of Palestinian terrorists as they attempted to launch a projectile at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, the spokesman said Hamas and PIJ said they "affirm our preparedness to confront the occupation's assaults.

Our guns will continue to be a protective shield for our people and our weapons are drawn at the face of our enemy.

" IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said, "Iron Dome air defence batteries were not activated during the rocket attack".

Rocket attacks on Beersheba home to more than 200,000 people are rare and considered a major escalation. It was only the second rocket fired at Beersheba since the 2014 Gaza war.

The previous rocket, which struck a field north of Beersheba on August 9, came as Palestinians fired dozens of projectiles at Israeli communities along the Gaza border.

Following the rocket attack, schools were closed in Beersheba and in the communities immediately surrounding the Gaza Strip, the army said.

Residents of the Gaza periphery were also barred from gathering in groups larger than 300 people outdoors and 500 people indoors. </s> The Israeli military said some 300 rockets were fired by the Palestinian militants throughout Monday into Israel’s southern territories. In response to the Palestinian shelling, the Israeli military attacked over 70 militant targets in the Gaza Strip from the ground and the air. According to local doctors, three Gaza Strip residents died in Israeli strikes. One of the Israeli airstrikes specifically targeted the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV station.

“The Foreign Ministry of Lebanon condemns the aggression to which the Gaza Strip and innocent civilians are exposed. The ministry calls on the international community to take immediate action to stop air raids and the horrendous bombardments of residential areas. The Ministry expresses its condolences to the families of the innocent victims of this aggression, ” the ministry’s said in a statement, obtained by Sputnik, late on Monday,

READ MORE: IDF Planes Launch Strikes in Gaza After Israeli Bus Hit by Mortar Fire (VIDEO)

Last week, Israel carried out an undercover raid targeting a Hamas commander in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, leaving at least seven Palestinians dead, according to reports.

The relations between the Israelis and the Palestinians near the Gaza border have been increasingly tense since 2005. The Gaza Strip is one of the two parts of the partially recognized State of Palestine, which until 2005 was Israeli territory. Palestinian protesters continue regular clashes with the Israeli troops on the border, while the Israeli side accuses Gaza of ongoing shelling. </s> TEL AVIV — A long-range rocket fired from the Gaza Strip early Wednesday landed in the largest city in southern Israel, destroying part of a house. It was the first rocket to hit Beersheba, a city of 200,000, since 2014.

Another rocket fired from Gaza landed in the sea near Tel Aviv — Israel's largest city.

The firing of more advanced rockets was an escalation in the ongoing conflict between militants in the blockaded Palestinian enclave and Israel. Israel said that Hamas has fired more than 350 rockets into Israel over the last six months.

A woman and her three children, including an infant, were treated for shock after the rocket hit her house in Beersheba. After hearing sirens warning of an attack, the family took cover in their home’s bomb shelter, a military spokesman said. Schools in the south of Israel were closed on Wednesday as a result.

In response to Wednesday’s attack the Israeli military said that it struck more than 20 military targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including what it described as a tunnel, Hamas facilities and a manufacturing facility. It also closed the two border crossings between Gaza and Israel and reduced Gazan’s fishing space to three nautical miles.

One person was killed and three injured, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, which took place on the eve of a visit by the chief of Egyptian intelligence. He hopes to broker a long-term cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians as well as a reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah.

A joint statement by an umbrella organization representing several Palestinian military wings denied firing the missiles.

“The resistance wings in the joint operations room salute the Egyptian effort to achieve the demands of our people, and reject all the irresponsible attempts that try to deviate the compass and sabotage the Egyptian effort, including the rocket fire last night,” said the Joint Chamber of Palestinian Resistance.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for the attack, military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said.

“We strongly urge Hamas not to test our resolve,” he said, warning the group from further escalating the conflict.

Rockets and more recently incendiary kites and explosive balloons are frequently aimed at the communities neighboring Gaza, though this is the farthest they’ve reached in four years. The Israeli military has responded to these with strikes on the desperately poor enclave.

There are also regular and deadly protests next to the border fence — which turn violent at times — aimed at easing the blockade. This past Friday more than 14,000 gathered in different locations, where they threw rocks, explosive devices, firebombs and grenades at IDF troops and the security fence, the Israeli military said, adding that it fired on the protesters. Five Palestinians were killed and 60 injured, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

Since March, 155 Palestinians have been killed during the protests. One Israeli soldier was killed by sniper fire in July.

Hamas won elections to rule Gaza in 2006. Since then, there have been three major rounds of fighting between Israel and Gaza. Israel and Egypt have enforced a border blockade since 2007, which has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern the densely populated strip of land that is home to some 2 million.

It has also devastated Gaza's economy, made it virtually impossible for people to enter and exit the territory, and left residents with little clean water and just a few hours of electricity a day.

Israel argues that Hamas could have ended the suffering of Gaza's people by disarming and renouncing violence.

Rachel Elbaum reported from London; Paul Goldman and Lawahez Jabari reported from Tel Aviv. </s> GAZA CITY: Israeli warplanes struck the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after the first rocket fire from the Palestinian territory in weeks hit an Israeli city, in a blow to efforts to avert a new war.

Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas disavowed the rocket fire, saying they rejected "all irresponsible attempts" to undermine Egyptian efforts to broker a new long-term truce. But Israel, which holds Hamas responsible for all rocket fire from the territory regardless of who launches it, struck 20 targets in Gaza, killing one Palestinian, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel also closed both its border crossings with Gaza in reprisal, further isolating the blockaded enclave where deteriorating living conditions have stoked violent protests along the border. Gaza militants fired two rockets before dawn, one of which caused major damage to a family home in the southern city of Beersheba, 40 kilometres away, the Israeli army said.

The family of three children narrowly escaped injury after their mother moved them into the safe room, with much of the rest of the house destroyed, the army said. "At 4 am (0100 GMT), Israelis in the city of Beersheba were running to bomb shelters after a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel," the army tweeted.

The other rocket came down in the sea off Tel Aviv, 70 kilometres from Gaza, the army said. Speaking after meeting with senior security officials Wednesday afternoon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged a forceful response.

"Israel views with utmost gravity the attacks against it on the fence, on the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, on Beersheba -- everywhere," he said, referencing months of often violent protests in Gaza.

"If the attacks don’t stop, we’ll stop them. I want to tell you today -- Israel will take very strong action." Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad condemned the latest rocket fire as "irresponsible".

But Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus rejected the disavowal, saying Hamas bore "full responsibility" as Gaza’s de facto ruler. Retaliatory strikes had hit 20 targets, including a Hamas attack tunnel and an "advanced weapons manufacturing site", he said.

They killed one Palestinian in northern Gaza who the army said was set to launch a rocket. The military released a video showing a man near the border preparing a rocket for launch before being hit by a missile strike.

At least three other Palestinians were wounded in the strikes, the Gaza health ministry said. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the closure of both of Israel’s border crossings with Gaza in reprisal, making the heavily restricted Rafah crossing with Egypt the enclave’s sole gateway to the outside world. </s> GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Monday was one of the most powerful launched ever by Gaza militants, flying nearly 120 kilometers (70 miles) before it slammed into a house in central Israel, wounding seven people.

Over more than a decade, the Islamic militant Hamas group has built up a large arsenal of rockets and missiles. It started with crude short-range projectiles and now possesses rockets that can strike virtually anywhere in Israel.

Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, prompting Israel and Egypt to impose a blockade on the territory, largely to prevent the militants from amassing more weapons. But the blockade and three wars with Israel — the most recent in 2014 — failed to prevent Hamas from expanding its arsenal.

A network of smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border is believed to have helped Hamas bring in advanced weapons and raw materials, though Egypt shuttered most of the tunnels around 2013.

In 2018, Gaza's Hamas chief Yehiya Sinwar boasted that the group had not only replenished the rockets it fired during the 50-day war in 2014, but had many more at its disposal. He said that what had been fired in 50 days "would be fired within five minutes" of any future Israeli offensive.

Monday's rocket strike was the furthest a Gaza rocket has landed since 2014, when Hamas struck the northern Israeli city of Haifa, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) away.

Gabi Siboni, an Israeli military analyst, said Hamas "has a variety of advanced, precise, and effective weaponry." He said this includes guided anti-tank missiles and shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, both produced by Russia, as well as some drones.

—Qassams: In 2001, a year after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against Israel, Hamas first fired a cross-border rocket toward Israel, calling it "Qassam" after the group's military wing. The homemade rockets, aimed at Israeli border towns, had an irregular trajectory and sometimes landed inside Gaza.

—R-160: Hamas calls this its longest-range home-grown rocket. It was first fired in the 2014 war and at one point hit Haifa. The "R'' in the name refers to Abdel-Aziz Rantissi, a senior Hamas official who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2004. The number refers to the range, in kilometers.

—J-80: This rocket, also produced locally, is named after Hamas military wing commander Ahmed Jabari, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his car in 2012, setting off an eight-day war. Israel reportedly believes the rocket that hit central Israel on Monday was this model and blamed Hamas. The group has not claimed responsibility.

—M-75: Hamas unveiled this rocket in 2014, claiming it was homemade. But experts believe it is a version of the Iranian Fajr 5 rocket, which Iran acquired in the 1990s and is based on Chinese technology.

—Hamas also possess a variety of Russian Grad rockets. These projectiles, with a range of about 20 kilometers (12 miles), are believed to have been delivered via Iran.

In recent years, Hamas has built a sophisticated network of tunnels. These include attack tunnels that run under the Gaza-Israel perimeter fence, for use by assailants to infiltrate Israel. Defensive tunnels, located away from the border, are used to store weapons and serve as hideouts.

Hamas first used tunnels in a 2006 cross-border attack in which it killed two Israeli soldiers and captured a third. The soldier, Gilad Shalit, was swapped for more than 1,000 prisoners in 2011.

Hamas also used the tunnels in the 2014 war, killing five soldiers in one cross-border raid.

During the fighting, Israel said it discovered and destroyed 32 tunnels. Since then, it says it has discovered and destroyed several additional tunnels.

To combat the tunnel threat, Israel has begun building an underground barrier running the length of the Gaza Strip, and this year it said it was reinforcing the Gaza fence with 20-foot-high galvanized steel.

—Mortars. Hamas has fired hundreds of mortars at short-range targets just across the border. The mortars are believed to have been smuggled from Libya through Egypt.

— Laser-guided anti-tank missiles made by Russia. Last November, Hamas fired such a missile, known as Kornet, at a bus from which Israeli soldiers had just exited. One soldier was seriously wounded. In a 2006 war, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia killed dozens of Israeli tank soldiers using these weapons.

—Drones: Hamas has developed an early-stage drone program, displaying images of Israeli fields purportedly filmed by these aircraft. It's not known whether they have been used for attacks. </s> Israeli warplanes strike 20 targets in Gaza Strip in retaliation for rocket fire from the Palestinian territory

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories – Israeli warplanes struck the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after the first rocket fire from the Palestinian territory in weeks hit an Israeli city, in a blow to efforts to avert a new war.

Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas disavowed the rocket fire, saying they rejected "all irresponsible attempts" to undermine Egyptian efforts to broker a new long-term truce.

But Israel, which holds Hamas responsible for all rocket fire from the territory regardless of who launches it, struck 20 targets in Gaza, killing one Palestinian, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel also closed both its border crossings with Gaza in reprisal, further isolating the blockaded enclave where deteriorating living conditions have stoked violent protests along the border.

Gaza militants fired two rockets before dawn, one of which caused major damage to a family home in the southern city of Beersheba, 40 kilometers away, the Israeli army said.

The family of 3 children narrowly escaped injury after their mother moved them into the safe room, with much of the rest of the house destroyed, the army said.

"At 4 am (0100 GMT), Israelis in the city of Beersheba were running to bomb shelters after a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel," the army tweeted.

The other rocket came down in the sea off Tel Aviv, 70 kilometers from Gaza, the army said.

"Israel views with utmost gravity the attacks against it on the fence, on the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, on Beersheba – everywhere," he said, referencing months of often violent protests in Gaza.

"If the attacks don't stop, we'll stop them. I want to tell you today – Israel will take very strong action."

Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad condemned the latest rocket fire as "irresponsible".

But Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus rejected the disavowal, saying Hamas bore "full responsibility" as Gaza's de facto ruler.

Retaliatory strikes had hit 20 targets, including a Hamas attack tunnel and an "advanced weapons manufacturing site", he said.

They killed one Palestinian in northern Gaza who the army said was set to launch a rocket.

The military released a video showing a man near the border preparing a rocket for launch before being hit by a missile strike.

At least three other Palestinians were wounded in the strikes, the Gaza health ministry said.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the closure of both of Israel's border crossings with Gaza in reprisal, making the heavily restricted Rafah crossing with Egypt the enclave's sole gateway to the outside world.

Lieberman also ordered the reduction of the permitted fishing zone off the Gaza coast to three nautical miles from six, his ministry said.

Lieberman already suspended deliveries of fuel that had been trucked daily into Gaza under a deal brokered by the United Nations.

It had seen thousands of liters of fuel paid for by Qatar delivered to generate desperately needed power in the impoverished territory.

Hamas has fought 3 wars with Israel since 2008 and fears of a fourth have spurred efforts by Egypt and the United Nations for a wider deal that would see Israel ease its blockade in exchange for a long-term truce with the Islamists.

During a meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday, UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov called the latest rocket launches a "dangerous escalation".

"Unfortunately, they fit a pattern of provocations that seek to bring Israel and Gaza into another deadly conflict and confrontation," he said, pledging to work with all sides to avert one.

The European Union said the "indiscriminate" missiles fired from Gaza were "completely unacceptable".

Rivlin said there could be no easing of the blockade while Israelis remained under threat of rocket attack.

"So long as the missiles and the provocation continue on, there is no chance of easing the suffering of the people of Gaza," he said.

Rivlin praised the fast reaction of Israelis in Beersheba, saying the mother had saved her family.

The UN says Israel's 11-year blockade has resulted in a "catastrophic" humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Its two million residents endure routine power cuts and a chronic shortage of safe drinking water, and more than two-thirds are dependent on international aid.

The latest flare-up comes after months of Palestinian protests along the Gaza border that have drawn a deadly response from Israeli troops.

The protesters have been demanding an end to Israel's blockade and the right of return to land now inside Israel, from which their families were expelled or fled during the 1948 war that accompanied its creation.

At least 207 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the protests began on March 30.

One Israeli soldier has been killed by Palestinian sniper fire over the same period. – Rappler.com
In response to a possible accidental launching of two rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Tel Aviv the day before, Israel launches hundreds of counter strikes directed at the town of Khan Yunis.