The British Foreign Office has expressed concern over Israel’s air strikes on the Gaza Strip and the escalation of violence in coastal sliver over the past week.

The UK’s warning came after Israel launched more than a dozen air strikes on the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Friday.

"We are concerned by today’s strikes and the escalation of violence in Gaza and southern Israel over the past week. We call on all parties to show restraint. We encourage Israelis and Palestinians to focus efforts on negotiation and to engage urgently in US-backed proximity talks," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

Following the overnight raids, Israel took a step further and threatened to launch a large-scale military operation against the Gaza Strip unless rocket launches from the enclave are stopped.

Earlier on Friday, a Qassam rocket was launched at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip and landed in an open area in the Ashkelon region, causing no injuries or damages.

Palestinians say the rockets are in retaliation to Israel’s three-year-long blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has deprived the resident from their basic necessities.

Later on Israeli warplanes launched 13 airstrikes on the beleaguered Strip, to hit what they called "weapons factories and warehouses,” and injured three children.

Hamas security officials, however, said that a cheese factory and a film-making complex were in fact among the sites hit.

(Press TV)