Israeli airstrikes on Gaza raise concern of violent escalation

Israeli war planes bombed locations across Gaza on Monday, according to local reports, after a missile was fired from the besieged Palestinian territory the night before.

At least three people were injured in the attacks, reported Maan News Agency, while both Israeli and Palestinian media - including al-Quds and Haaretz - reported the number of injured at four.

The attacks took place hours after an Israeli military spokesman said that a rocket fired from Gaza landed in southern Israel causing no injuries.

Locations targeted in the attacks, according to local witnesses, included a Hamas military site west of the Nuseirat camp.

Other places targeted were a monitoring post east of Rafah city in the southern end of the Gaza Strip, the Hitteen post in Beit Lahiya, the Nahda neighbourhood of Rafah, and an agricultural area east of Gaza city.

On its official Twitter account, Hamas posted a tweet condemning the attacks as a "dangerous escalation that targets the Palestinian resistance and the people of the Gaza Strip".

Major General Yoav Mordechai, Israel's coordinator of government activity in the territories, wrote in a Facebook post that "Israel isn't interested in escalation, but cannot ignore rockets fired toward its sovereign territory. This is why the IDF retaliated."

At the start of February, a series of rockets were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system as they targeted the Red Sea resort town of Eilat in an attack later claimed by IS.

Tit-for-tat attacks between Israel and Palestinians have raised concerns of a larger escalation of hostilities.