Israeli warplanes strike Gazan targets

Palestinian inspect damages following an Israel airstrike in Gaza City, on July 3, 2014. [Photo/IC]

GAZA - Israeli warplanes carried out more than 10 airstrikes on targets in the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City early Thursday, witnesses said.

Explosions were clearly heard in northern Gaza and Gaza City, said the witnesses, adding that ambulances and firefighters have rushed to the sites and the injured have been sent to hospitals.

Security officials in Gaza confirmed that several explosions were heard in northern Gaza and Gaza City and they were the result of Israeli airstrikes on the training facilities of militant groups in the Palestinian enclave.

The officials also said the airstrikes caused severe damage to several buildings in northern Gaza City.

Ashraf al-Qedra, Gaza's emergency chief, said that at least five civilians were injured in northern Gaza, including a woman who is in critical condition.

The intensive Israeli airstrikes were in response to the firing of several rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel by militants. But the rockets caused no casualties, according to Israel Radio.

The armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for launching two rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel early Wednesday.