Air raid sirens were reported as sounding in southern Israel north of the Gaza Strip at around midnight on Friday. The sirens were reported in Zikim, Kibbutz Karmia, and the city of Ashkelon, all along the Mediterranean coast.
Video posted online purported to show interceptions of several rockets by the Iron Dome air defense system over Ashkelon.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Twitter in a brief statement that the siren reports were "under review." They later confirmed the launches of two rockets from the Gaza Strip as well as their intercept.
Hamas Vows 'Response' to Deadly Jenin Raid
Tensions have risen in Israel and the Palestinian territories since the Israeli elections in November in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power at the head of a coalition of far-right parties. Anti-Arab extremists have been given prominent places in the new Israeli government, arousing fears of greater violence against Palestinians, including evictions and annexations in the West Bank.
The latest violence came earlier on Thursday as the IDF and Shin Bet carried out a joint operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. The Israelis said they were there to try and capture three members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad; however, the raid resulted in the deaths of ten Palestinians, including an elderly woman and two children. They were the latest of at least 29 deaths at the hands of Israeli authorities this month.
In response to the killings, Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy leader of Hamas, vowed that Israel “will pay the price for the Jenin massacre.”
“Our resistance will not break, and our response will come soon,” he said.
IDF chief Herzi Halevi has ordered the army to “increase preparedness and continue counter[terrorism] activities as needed."