Israeli tanks shelled the Gaza Strip after a rocket from the Palestinian enclave hit an open field yesterday, the second such exchange of fire in two days, officials said.
The rocket slammed into the Eshkol area of Israel bordering the Gaza Strip, which is run by the Hamas, the Israeli military said in a statement.
The Israelis retaliated with tank fire targeting farmland east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, said a Hamas security source.
Israel usually retaliates to rocket fire from the Gaza with strikes, but recent responses have been stronger than in the past.
That has led some analysts to question whether the change is in part the result of a new policy by hardline Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who took office in May.
Following the latest exchange, Israel’s military issued a brief statement only saying it “targeted the Hamas terror infrastructure inside the Gaza Strip using tanks.”
No casualties were reported on either side, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket attack.
On Wednesday, Israeli forces retaliated with air strikes and tank shelling of Hamas posts in Gaza after a rocket crashed onto a road in the Israeli city of Sderot.
That rocket was claimed by the small Salafist movement Ahfad al-Sahaba, which opposes Hamas and sympathises with Islamic State group.
Israel however holds Hamas responsible for all such rocket fire.
No casualties were reported from the rocket or the Israeli strikes on Wednesday.
Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have fought three wars since 2008 and there are frequent flare-ups along the border.
Meanwhile, the White House has accused Israel of a betrayal of trust, in an unusually sharp rebuke over its plans to build hundreds of new settlement homes deep in the West Bank.
Days after President Barack Obama approved a $38bn Israeli military aid package and attended former president Shimon Peres’s funeral in Jerusalem, the White House railed at the construction of 300 housing units on land “far closer to Jordan than Israel.”
Warning that the decision jeopardises the already distant prospect of Middle East peace as well as Israel’s own security, press secretary Josh Earnest said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s word had been called into question.
“We did receive public assurances from the Israeli government that contradict this announcement,” he said.
“I guess when we’re talking about how good friends treat one another, that’s a source of serious concern as well.”
The sharper-than-normal comments come as the White House weighs a last-ditch effort to get the peace process back on its feet before Obama leaves office in January.
While serious talks seem unlikely, US officials are weighing the possibility of a major speech outlining the parameters for peace.