A rocket fired from Gaza landed in an unpopulated area of southern Gaza.

The launch on Wednesday night triggered the Iron Dome missile defence system and the Code Red warning sirens in the southern Israeli regional councils of Merhavim and Eshkol near the Gaza border. The Iron Dome interceptor rocket was called off after air defence units determined it would not hit a populated area. The IDF said that the fallout from the interceptor hitting a rocket over a populated area could cause more damage than allowing the terrorists’ rocket to fall in an open field.

In response to the rocket attack, IDF fighter jets struck eight Hamas targets across Gaza, including a munitions factory, according to the IDF spokesman.  Other targets included a training base and a weapons storage site.

Earlier in the day, the Israel Air Force had fired on a Hamas post in Gaza from which incendiary balloons had been launched.  Nine fires were sparked on Wednesday in Israeli communities near the Gaza border due to incendiary balloons sent from Gaza.