Israeli planes strike on Gaza militants in response to rockets

The overnight air strikes targeted two training camps belonging to Hamas, causing no injuries, officials and witnesses said.

A rocket fired from Gaza struck open land in a residential area of the southern town of Sderot on Friday night.

Late on Friday, Gaza militants had fired at least two rockets into Israel.

Police said the rocket, for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility, damaged the bus but there were no injuries.

Israel has long accused Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic political organization and the de facto authority in Gaza, of carrying out bomb and missile attacks in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel vowed a tough response.

The rocket fire has not yet been claimed by any group. Israel pointed the finger at Hamas movement, which has ruled and controlled the enclave since 2007.

Earlier Friday, Egyptian security officials and eyewitnesses told DPA that the Egyptian army has begun to pump water from the Mediterranean Sea into underground smuggling tunnels connected Gaza with the Sinai Peninsula. “Hamas will liberate al-Aqsa Mosque within three years as well as Be’er Sheva and Ashkelon”.