The Israeli army fired missiles into the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, injuring three Palestinians, after a rocket fired from Gaza fell inside the southern Israeli city of Sderot, with no injuries or damage reported by the Israeli army.
Shortly after reports emerged of the shelling, spokesman for the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip Ashraf al-Qidra announced that a young man in his twenties was injured as a result of an Israeli artillery shelling targeting a military training ground in Beit Hanoun near the Erez crossing.
Local sources later told Ma'an that two other Palestinians were also injured, though the details remained unclear.
An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed in a statement that both the Israeli air force and artillery tanks targeted two alleged Hamas posts in northern Gaza.
An Israel air force plane was used to strike the first target, while an Israel army tank was used to attack the second, according to the Israeli army.
Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that a rocket fired by an Israeli drone hit a water reservoir and another shell landed in an open area in Beit Hanoun.
The missiles were fired minutes after it was confirmed by the Israeli army that a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip and hit the city of Sderot.
The Hamas-affiliated news site the Palestinian Information Center later reported that a "Palestinian citizen was injured in the face" by shrapnel of an artillery shell.
The report quoted local sources as saying that Israeli tanks fired three shells at an agricultural land in the al-Masriyyin neighborhood in Beit Hanoun. Furthermore, the report said Israeli artillery shells landed in the Filistin training ground which Hamas fighters use for military training.
No group had yet claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.
According to the Israeli army, 14 rockets have been fired into Israel in 2016.
Most recently, on July 1, Israeli forces launched airstrikes at several sites allegedly used by Palestinian political factions in the besieged coastal enclave in response to a rocket fire that landed in Sderot.
In May, a Palestinian woman was killed during several consecutive days of sustained airstrikes and tank shelling from Israeli forces, allegedly in response to cross-border mortar shelling and a rocket being fired from the Gaza Strip.
