Palestinian faction Hamas on Wednesday warned Israel against the ramifications of maintaining a policy of military "escalation" against the blockaded Gaza Strip. "Israel bears full responsibility for any [military] escalation in the Gaza Strip," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement. Israeli fighter jets staged a series of strikes early Wednesday against various positions associated with the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, in the Gaza Strip. On its website, the Israeli army described the positions as "terrorist targets", saying the strikes had been carried out in response to a rocket fired on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Some eyewitnesses said Israeli warplanes had targeted two Al-Quds Brigades sites in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. They added that another site associated with the Brigades had also been targeted in Khan Younis, along with a fourth in the northern Gaza Strip. The attacks damaged a number of houses in the area, the eyewitnesses said. Late Tuesday, the Israeli army said a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip had fallen in southern Israel without causing any casualties. As a result, schools were closed on Wednesday across southern Israel's Ashdod district. The army accused Palestinian faction Hamas-which has run the Gaza Strip since 2007-of being responsible for the alleged rocket attack.

Israel's defense minister blamed Islamic Jihad a smaller Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip for the latest rocket attack. Moshe Yaalon says the airstrikes targeted both Islamic Jihad and Hamas sites in Gaza early on Wednesday, after Islamic Jihad fired a rocket toward southern Israel late on Tuesday night. Yaalon also warned that Israel would respond more forcefully if Hamas did not act to prevent such "provocations."

Israel launched Operation Protective Edge last summer, a full fledge attack on Gaza City, killing more than 2,000 civilians, injuring more than 10,000 and destroying the city. The Israeli offensive, launched with the stated aim of ending rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, also left 73 Israelis dead, mostly soldiers. According to the Palestinian health ministry, a total of 2,016 unarmed civilians were killed and another 10,196 wounded. At least 425,000 displaced people in the Gaza Strip are in emergency shelters, according to the U.N.'s reports. Additionally, nearly 12,000 homes have been destroyed or partially damaged by Israeli strikes.

Israel continues to increase the number of settlements on occupied territory, despite criticism from the U.S., U.N. and other international human rights organizations. Furthermore, since the cease-fire of August 2014, Israel has attack Gaza 400 times, whereas only four rockets have reportedly been fired into Israel.