Israel has fired mortar shells at three targets in the Gaza Strip, in what it claimed to be a response to rocket strikes from the territory.

The Israeli Air Force said it had hit targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday.

At least five people were injured, according to Palestinian medical sources.

"Four people with moderate injuries arrived at Shuhada al-Aqsa hospital after an air raid that targeted a home in Deir al-Balah," said Adham Abu Selmiya, a spokesman for the Hamas-run medical services in Gaza.

Israeli authorities said that four rockets containing phosphorus, which hit the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council on Friday afternoon, had earlier been fired from the Gaza Strip.

In total 10 mortars and a military-grade rocket had been fired at the country’s southern communities over the past two days, Israeli sources said.

The armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committee (Salah al-Din Brigades) claimed responsibility for Friday’s strikes, stating that it was a response to Israel’s assassinations in Gaza of two leaders of an al-Qaeda-linked group.
 
(Agency via Aljazeera.net English)