GAZA: Israel carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after Palestinian militants there fired rockets into southern Israel.

The early morning air strikes targeted two training camps belonging to the Islamist group Hamas, causing no injuries, officials and witnesses said.

Gaza militants fired at least two rockets into Israel late on Friday, Israeli military said. One struck the border town of Sderot, damaging a bus but causing no injuries. A second was shot down by a missile defence system, the military said.

A Palestinian group that supports the self-styled Islamic State claimed responsibility for one of the rockets fired at Israel. No-one claimed responsibility for the second rocket attack.

The cross-border violence comes as tensions remain high in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where Israeli security forces and Palestinians have clashed over the past week.

In London, US Secretary of State John Kerry urged calm and called on all sides to exercise restraint amid violence in recent days around Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play