A rocket was fired into Israel from the Gaza strip on Wednesday causing unspecified damage in a southern city. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
“At 4am [01:00 GMT] Israelis in the city of Beer Sheva were running to bomb shelters after a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel,” the Israeli army said on Twitter.
“We will defend Israeli civilians,” it added, suggesting there would be a military response.
It is one of the first rockets fired in recent weeks from the Palestinian territory under Israel’s devastating blockade and comes at a time of renewed tensions between Israel and Palestinian armed groups.
“A rocket struck the city of Beer Sheva a few moments ago causing damage,” the Israeli police said, without specifying the extent.
The rocket fell into the garden of a house occupied by a family with three children who were being treated for shock, local media reported.
The Israeli army reported another rocket was fired towards the sea.
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It was unclear who fired the projectiles but the Israeli army says it holds Hamas accountable for what is happening in the territory under its control.
The rocket fire comes after months of violent Palestinian protests on the Gaza border, sparking deadly gunfire from Israeli troops and fears of an all-out conflict between Hamas and Israel, which have fought three wars since 2008.
Since protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 205 Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave.
The protesters are demanding to be allowed to return to land now inside Israel, from which their families fled or were displaced during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of the Jewish state.
Cutting off fuel
Israel’s defence minister said on Tuesday the protests could not be allowed to go on.
“We are not prepared to accept the level of violence we see week after week,” Avigdor Lieberman told troops and commanders at an army base near southern Israel’s border with Gaza.
He also suspended shipments of fuel that had been trucked daily into Gaza over the previous week under a deal brokered by the UN and backed by the United States, Israel and others.
It had seen thousands of litres brought into the fuel-starved Gaza strip.
The UN says Israel’s 11-year blockade of the enclave has resulted in a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation.
Gaza’s two million residents endure dire living conditions including a shortage of safe drinking water and regular power cuts, partly because of the lack of fuel for the strip’s power station.
