Gaza City, Palestinian: Witnesses and members of the ruling Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip say Israel launched early Tuesday morning strikes in response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave into Israel.

Witnesses report that Israeli planes bombed the southern Gaza Strip, and Hamas’ armed wing claims responsibility for the attack.

In a statement, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said, “Congratulations to the men of the resistance who confronted the fighter jets with our anti-aircraft defence,” claiming the Israeli raid hit “empty sites.”

According to eyewitnesses and security sources in the Gaza Strip, a rocket fired from Gaza into Israeli territory had just been intercepted by Israel’s “Iron Dome” air defence system.

“In response to this attack, IDF fighter jets struck a Hamas terrorist organisation weapons manufacturing site in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli army said.

A rocket attack and a retaliatory airstrike have taken place after a weekend of Israeli-Palestinian violence in and around Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

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