Sirens wail in southern Israel after airstrikes in Gaza

Sirens wailed in southern Israel Saturday, following an IDF strike in the Gaza Strip earlier in the day.

The Code Red alerts were heard in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

Earlier, IAF aircraft carried out a number of air strikes in the Gaza Strip after a rocket was launched into Israeli territory, Palestinian officials said.

The rocket landed in an open area and caused no harm.

Palestinians said the Israeli military targeted a Hamas post in the south of the Strip. There were no casualties reported in the strike.

On Thursday Israel carried out a targeted strike in Gaza against a Palestinian terrorist who was involved in rocket attacks against Israel.

The man, who the IDF Spokesperson Office identified as 33-year-old Hamas policeman and Salafist activist Mohammed Awwar, was killed in the airstrike. Awwar was involved in two rocket attacks on southern Israel in April and an attempt to down an IDF helicopter, the army said in a statement. It said Awwar was planning more attacks when he was hit.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said after the attack that Israel would act whenever and wherever necessary to defend its citizens against terror groups in the Gaza Strip.

Ya’alon said that Israel would not tolerate “sporadic [rocket] fire or terrorism attempts whose aim is to disrupt the lives of residents of the south and harm our forces.”