Israel strikes Hamas positions after Gaza rocket attack

June 27 (UPI) -- Israel launched strikes on Hamas military positions in Gaza after a rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday.

The rocket was fired Monday and landed in Israel's Sha'ar Hanegev community without causing injuries or damage. The Islamic State-affiliated Ahfad al-Sahaba group later took responsibility for the attack. Israel's air force later attacked what it termed "military infrastructure" in Gaza.

Late Monday and into Tuesday, Israeli war planes targeted two Hamas military facilities, in northern and in southern Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry reported no injuries.

The IDF said in a statement that since Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, it is responsible for any attempt in Gaza to harm Israel, even if an attack comes from Gaza by an anti-Hamas group. Sporadic rocket fire, from Gaza into Israel, has persisted since the two countries' 51-day war in 2014.

"The IDF employs a policy of using aggressive, and disproportionate, force in order to prevent situations in which they fire rockets at us and we return shells," Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot recently told Israel's State Control Committee. "For us, there is one address in the Strip: Hamas."

Eisenkot added that Israel "does not attack sand dunes or empty storehouses. Every rocket or shell we fired was toward a target of value."