JERUSALEM/GAZA - Israeli aircraft attacked targets in the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday morning, the IDF spokesperson's unit said, as another barrage of rockets from the coastal enclave landed in southern Israel.
Hours earlier, a rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza struck the coastal Israeli city of Ashdod, wounding two people, at the same time as Israel and two Gulf Arab states signed agreements in Washington to establish formal relations.
The IDF said on Wednesday morning that IAF aircraft attacked ten Hamas targets, including a training base and a munitions factory.The airstrikes came in retaliation after 13 rocket launches from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory were identified earlier in the morning, eight of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.The military spokesperson said that "the IDF takes all terrorist activity against Israeli territory very seriously and will continue to act as necessary against attempts to harm Israeli citizens and their sovereignty."
There were no immediate reports of casualties on either side.
Palestinians, who seek an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, view the US-brokered deals signed at the White House between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain as a betrayal of their cause.
Islamic Jihad's secretary-general Ziyad al-Nakhalah took responsibility on Wednesday evening for the rocket attack launched on Tuesday, and threatened Israel with more attacks, while noting that its organization is not committed to any ceasefire, according to Walla! News.
"The Palestinian opposition in Gaza has provided a response for the humiliating images coming out of Washington," al-Nakhalah said in an interview. "There are no red lines in resistance actions taken against the occupier and Israel in its entirety is a target if a war breaks out.”Tobias Siegal contributed to this report.