Israel hits back after Gaza rockets

Israeli warplanes have attacked targets in the Gaza Strip after missiles were fired into southern Israel late on Sunday night.

At least six rockets were fired from northern Gaza, but no damage or injury was reported.

Hours later, Israeli aircraft hit three areas, a BBC reporter said.

The reason for the flare-up is unclear but sources blame tension in Gaza after an Islamic Jihad leader was killed by Hamas police on Saturday.

Raed Qassim Jundeyeih, 32, died after he was shot during a gun battle involving police and members of his family. Unconfirmed reports said he was a commander of the militant group's military wing, the Al-Quds brigades.

Islamic Jihad were believed to have been behind Sunday night's rocket attack on Israel, which came after a period of relative calm.

Sirens blared in a number of areas of southern Israel and Israeli media said two of the missiles, thought to be Grad rockets, were intercepted by the Iron Dome system in the Ashkelon area.

Israeli planes launched an attack in the early hours of Monday. BBC reporter Rushdi Abualouf said they hit three targets belonging to both Hamas and Islamic Jihad and there were no reports of casualties.

The first strike targeted an Islamic Jihad training facility in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The other attacks were on security compounds for the Hamas-run government, our correspondent said.

An Israeli army spokesman said weapons storage sites and a rocket-launching site were among the targets.