An IDF rocket artillery battery in action. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The Israeli Air Force targeted eight Hamas sites in Gaza on Thursday, in response to the launching of a rocket into Israel.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reported that the strikes hit a training camp, weapons’ storage facility and military compound belonging to Hamas.

The Red Alert rocket warning system went off at 11:17 pm on Wednesday in the Eshkol Regional Council, an area near the Gaza border, which includes more than 30 Israeli kibbutz and moshav residential areas that are home to approximately 13,000 people.

The Iron Dome missile-defense system was activated but failed to neutralize the rocket, which fell in an open field. No physical injuries or damage were reported.

The strike came just a day after Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the Rafah border crossing opened to allow the resumption of gas deliveries to Gaza.

He had ordered the closing of the crossing and the postponement of deliveries after a powerful missile smashed into a home belonging to a single mother and her children in Beersheva on Oct. 17.

On Wednesday, the IAF targeted a group of Hamas terrorists attempting to launch arson balloons into Israel. Firefighters along the Gaza border were called to extinguish nine separate fires sparked by arson balloons launched by Gazans.