Gaza militants launch rocket, Israel responds with airstrikes
By Ian Lee, CNN
Updated 8:17 AM EDT, Thu October 25, 2018
Jerusalem (CNN) Gaza militants launched a rocket from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday night, prompting airstrikes by the Israeli military.
Israel's Iron Dome aerial defense system was activated and launched an interceptor missile, but no interception took place, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). No one was injured by the rocket.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant factions in Gaza, have denied firing the rocket, and there has been no claim of responsibility.
In response, the IDF said fighter jets hit eight military targets in three Hamas compounds in the Gaza Strip, including a training facility, a weapons manufacturing site and storage site.
No one was injured in the airstrikes.
Israel said it held Hamas responsible "for all events transpiring in the Gaza Strip and emanating from it," adding that Hamas would "bear the consequences for the terror it has waged against Israeli civilians."
Last week, one rocket fired from Gaza struck a home in the city of Beer Sheva in southern Israel, the IDF said, while a second landed off the coast of central Israel. There were no claims of responsibility for those rockets either. Israel responded by striking nearly two dozen Hamas military targets across Gaza.
There are now suggestions in Israeli media that a lightning strike may have triggered last week's rocket fire. Earlier this week, Israel Radio quoted Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked saying, "Based on what we know, Hamas did not mean to shoot the rockets," and Times of Israel cited an unnamed minister as saying, "It would not have been right to go to war over the weather."
CNN's Michael Schwartz contributed to this report.
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