Israeli warplanes struck a site in the Gaza Strip Tuesday affiliated with the military wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
Several strikes by Israeli warplanes targeted a site west of Khan Yunis city in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Anadolu Agency (AA).
No casualties or injuries have been reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades said they have retaliated with surface-to-air missiles. "Our air defense responded to Zionist warplanes in the skies of the Gaza Strip with surface-to-air missiles at exactly 1:35 a.m. local time (10:35 a.m.) Tuesday morning," it announced in a statement.
Earlier, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Twitter that one rocket fired from Gaza was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defense system. It said the strikes were carried out in response to the launch from Gaza into Israel, adding, "We just targeted a Hamas weapons manufacturing site in Gaza."
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also condemned the Israeli escalation at the flashpoint site.
The move comes after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Hamas was responsible for the rising tensions in Israel and Palestine. Referring to the ongoing tensions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, Bennett in a statement by the Israeli government described what has happened recently in East Jerusalem as "a campaign against Israel led by Hamas."
Bennett claimed that he did everything he could to ensure that all people of Israel – Jews, Muslims and Christians – could spend their sacred days in safety.
Bennett, who called on people "not to participate in lies and violence against Jews," promised that according to international law, the eastern occupied part of Jerusalem will "remain open to all."
Meanwhile, Hamas on Sunday had also blamed Israel for the ongoing tensions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
Tensions have been running high across the Palestinian territories since the beginning of April amid repeated Israeli arrest campaigns in the West Bank.
On Friday, dozens of Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces that stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem. On Sunday, more than 700 Israeli settlers forced their way into the Al-Aqsa complex under heavy police protection to celebrate the weeklong Jewish Passover holiday, which started Friday.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.