Israel has carried out strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza, after a rocket attack on a house injured seven Israelis.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the office of Hamas’s political leader and the group’s military intelligence headquarters were among the targets.
Gaza’s health ministry said seven Palestinians were injured.
Militants later launched a barrage of rockets towards southern Israeli towns despite reports of a ceasefire, triggering further Israeli strikes.
So far no Palestinian militant group has said it fired the long-range rocket that hit the house in Mishmeret, north of Tel Aviv, on Monday morning.
The Israeli military blamed Hamas, but one unnamed official from the group said it had “no interest” in doing so.
The escalation follows months of tensions at the boundary fence between Gaza and Israel, and two weeks before Israel holds a general election.
Israeli media report that the Israeli side of the border has been quiet since 03:15 (01:15 GMT), and that the last Israeli strike on Gaza took place at about 04:30.
Overnight, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired more than 60 rockets and mortars towards Israel, according to the IDF. About 30 of the projectiles were launched after Hamas said it had accepted an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement that would start at 22:00.
WATCH AND LISTEN: Hamas fires a barrage of rockets at Israeli civilians last night. pic.twitter.com/iUrD9LxXBx
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 26, 2019
No injuries were reported in Israel, but a home in the town of Sderot was hit by a rocket that did not explode.
The IDF said, in response to the rocket fire, fighter jets and helicopters struck 15 targets in Gaza, including a Hamas military compound in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Gaza’s health ministry did not report any casualties as a result of those strikes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would immediately go to the IDF’s headquarters when he returned from a curtailed trip to the US on Tuesday.
