The Israeli military said eight projectiles were identified crossing from the area of Rafah, the southern tip of the Gaza Strip where Israel kept up operations despite a ruling by the top UN court on Friday ordering it to stop attacking the city.
A number of the projectiles were intercepted, it said. There were no reports of casualties.
In a statement on its Telegram channel, the Hamas al-Qassam Brigades said the rockets were launched in response to "Zionist massacres against civilians".
Rafah is located about 100 km south of Tel Aviv.
🔴A barrage of rockets was launched from Rafah toward central Israel moments ago. — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) Humanitarian aid has been going into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom Crossing this morning, and now rockets are being fired at central Israel.This is what it looked like from the Rafah Crossing: pic.twitter.com/wmQyVL4NKKMay 26, 2024
Israel says it wants to root out Hamas fighters holed up in Rafah and rescue hostages it says are being held in the area, but its assault has worsened the plight of civilians and caused an international outcry.
On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians in Rafah, according to local medical services.Â
The Gaza health ministry identified the dead as civilians.
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said the rockets fired from Rafah "prove that the (Israel Defence Forces) must operate in every place Hamas still operates from".
Nearly 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, Gaza's health ministry says. Israel launched the operation after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The top United Nations court has ordered Israel to stop attacking the southern Gaza city of Rafah. (AP PHOTO)
Fighting also continued in the northern Gaza area of Jabaliya, the scene of intense combat earlier in the war.Â
During one raid, the military said it found a weapons storage site with dozens of rocket parts and weapons at a school.
It denied Hamas statements that Palestinian fighters had abducted an Israeli soldier.
Hamas media said an Israeli airstrike on a house in a neighbourhood near Jabaliya killed 10 people and wounded others.
Efforts to agree to a halt in the fighting and the return of more than 120 hostages have been blocked for weeks but there were some signs of movement at the weekend following meetings between Israeli and US intelligence officials and Qatar's prime minister.
An official said a decision had been taken to resume the talks this week based on new proposals from Egyptian and Qatari mediators, and with "active US involvement."
However, a Hamas official played down the report, telling Reuters: "It is not true."
Israel has faced calls to get more aid into Gaza after more than seven months of a war that has caused widespread destruction and hunger in the enclave.
Khaled Zayed of the Egyptian Red Crescent told Reuters 200 trucks of aid, including four fuel trucks, were expected to enter Gaza through Kerem Shalom.
It follows an agreement between US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday to bypass the Rafah crossing that has been blocked for weeks.
Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV shared a video on social media platform X, showing what it said were aid trucks as they entered Kerem Shalom, which before the conflict was the main commercial crossing station between Israel, Egypt and Gaza.
with DPA
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