Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said the airstrikes targeted "four terror infrastructures" in the southern Gaza Strip.
The airstrikes were in response to an attack yesterday night in which a rocket was launched at Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, Lerner said. The rocket hit an open area in the Lakhish regional council, and no injuries were reported, he said. Sirens wailed in several southern Israeli communities at the time of the attack.
No Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.
Early today, witnesses reported hearing explosions from the Israeli airstrikes in different parts of the northern and southern Gaza Strip.
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Palestinian security sources said the Israeli airstrikes targeted militant training sites and also hit open spaces. The sites belong to Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, and the smaller Islamic Jihad group.
The airstrikes are the first since a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza militants took effect following the end of a 50-day war last summer. However, Palestinians say Israel forces have regularly fired at farmers near the border fence and at fishermen off the Gaza coast. The shootings have killed a Palestinian fisherman and a farmer.
Hamas has fired thousands of rockets at Israel over the years. But rocket fire has mostly stopped since the end of last summer's war between Gaza militants and Israel. Other militant groups have fired rockets since then, but Israel holds Hamas responsible for all attacks coming out of Gaza.