Israeli warplanes strike Gaza after rocket fire

Israeli Army warplanes, drones and artillery continued striking militants' facilities in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in response to the firing of barrages of rockets from the coastal enclave into Israel, the media reported.

One Palestinian was killed and seven were wounded in the Israeli airstrikes on various military facilities all over the Gaza Strip, said the Gaza Health Ministry.

It was unclear if the casualties were militants or civilians. 

An Israeli Army spokesman said in a statement that their warplanes struck with missiles over 10 targets that belong to the Islamic Hamas movement and the Islamic Jihad militants in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Saturday, the Joint Chamber of Military Operations -- comprising the armed wings of Palestinian factions, including Hamas and the Islamic Jihad -- fired dozens of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

Firing the rockets from the coastal enclave into southern Israel, according to the Joint Chamber of Military Operations, was a response to Israeli killing of four Palestinians on Friday in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra said that the Israeli Army shot and killed two Palestinian demonstrators and injured 51 others during their participation in the weekly anti-Israel rallies and protests, better known as the "Great March of Return" and "Breaking the Israeli Siege".

Two other Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday evening, he added.

The Israeli airstrike on a Hamas military training facility on Friday was a response to an attack carried out by Palestinian gunmen in which two Israeli soldiers were injured.

The escalation between Israel and the Palestinians has been taking place as two delegations representing Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are holding talks in Cairo since Thursday over restoring calm in the Gaza Strip.
IANS