Israel is reinforcing its border with the Gaza Strip after Palestinian militants and the Israel Air Force traded strikes overnight, leaving at least 15 people injured and two residential buildings in ruins.
Rockets that struck the two buildings in the southern Israeli town of Sderot caused no casualties, but caused extensive damage.
"We heard an explosion, and then a really strong explosion," a woman, who hid in a reinforced room with her three children, was cited as saying by Haaretz daily.
Another building was used as a nursery for infants, The Jerusalem Post reported police as saying.
The airstrikes knocked out electricity supplies in part of the town.
© AFP Photo / Mohammed AbedPalestinian men inspect damages following an overnight Israeli air strike, on July 3, 2014 in Gaza City.
A total of more than 30 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israeli territory on Wednesday and Thursday. Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said Hamas itself fired some of the rockets.
"In light of constant and continued fire into Israeli territory" Israel carried out 15 precision airstrikes in the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas, he said.
The IDF confirmed the strikes in a statement saying Hamas targets were hit, "including concealed rocket launchers, weapon storage facilities and terror activity sites," The Times of Israel reported.
The Israeli air strikes hit at least three Hamas training facilities in Gaza, said a source in the Islamist group, according to Reuters. Among the Hamas-affiliated targets there were reportedly hidden rocket launchers, training compounds and weapons storage sites, Haaretz said.
© AFP Photo / Mohammed AbedA Palestinian man rides a donkey cart past a crater following an overnight Israeli air strike, on July 3, 2014 in Gaza City.
Israel began moving troops to reinforce its border with the Gaza Strip on Thursday. AP reported that buses carrying Israeli troops could be seen heading to the Gaza border area, and that soldiers were observed packing their equipment.
"We are moving and we have moved forces in order to serve defense activities and forward preparation, but we have no interest in escalation," Lerner told journalists, according to AFP. "The main issue is how Hamas is reading the situation. We don't want to take it further, but we will be prepared for the developments."
© AFP Photo / Hazem BaderSmoke rises from the home of Ziad Awwad, 42, and his son Ezzedine Awwad, 18, after it was destroyed by the Israeli military, in the village of Idnah, close to the southern West Bank city of Hebron, on July 2, 2014.
The teenager was reportedly abducted near his East Jerusalem home a short time before his body was discovered.
According to the boy's relative, he was abducted around 3:45 am in a Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem when a car did a U-turn in front of him. Then someone called him over and forced him into the vehicle.
The discovery of the Palestinian teen's body in Jerusalem triggered a mass rally by Hamas supporters. The protest was describes by Hamas spokesperson as "a condemnation of the Israeli crimes against our people in the West Bank and Jerusalem".
The clashes in East Jerusalem, which lasted 12 hours, were said to be the worst in years as. Protesters were throwing stones at security forces, who responded by firing sound bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets.
Police are investigating whether Khdeir was killed in retaliation for the death of three Israeli teenagers who were buried on Tuesday after being kidnapped in the West Bank last month.
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