GAZA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israeli fighter jets on Friday carried out a series of airstrikes on facilities belonging to militant groups in the Gaza Strip in response to rockets fired from the coastal enclave, eyewitnesses said.
Israeli army drones and fighter jets were heard buzzing in the air, and several explosions were heard in central Gaza Strip, the witnesses told Xinhua, adding that more than 14 missiles were fired at a military post that belongs to Gaza militant groups.
Palestinian medical sources said that no injuries were reported during the strikes that mainly targeted posts and facilities that belong to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
The airstrikes were an Israeli response to the earlier firing of two rockets at southern Israel, said an Israeli army spokesman. No group has claimed responsibility for firing the rockets, which was a response to the killing of 10 Palestinians by Israeli soldiers on Thursday during an Israeli raid on the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
During Israeli airstrikes on Friday, militants in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave also fired at least five rockets at southern Israeli communities close to the borders with the Gaza Strip and anti-craft missiles were fired at Israeli fighter jets by Hamas militants, sources close to Hamas security told Xinhua.
Media outlets in Gaza quoted an Egyptian source as saying that Egyptian intelligence is in intensive contact with the Palestinian factions to prevent an escalation in Gaza.
Since early January, tension between Israel and the Palestinians has been flaring, with around 29 Palestinians killed and dozens injured by Israeli soldiers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Palestinian officials had warned of an escalated Israeli killing of Palestinians mainly after the formation of the new Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ■
