IDF Destroys Rocket Launcher in Northern Gaza

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Hamas, the Palestinian faction that's ruled the Gaza Strip since June 2007, finds itself at odds with globally affiliated Islamic terror groups spring up in the Strip.

Shortly after midnight Tuesday, the IDF destroyed the launch pad in northern Gaza used to fire a rocket on southern Israel two hours earlier. The rocket exploded in a field near Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, setting off air raid sirens in several Gaza-perimeter communities around 10 p.m.

In response to the attack, Israel barred Gaza residents from entering Israel Friday to attend Muslim prayers on the Temple Mount. Tens of thousands of Gazans were given permits to visit the site during Islam's month-long Ramadan holiday.

During the past several weeks, terrorists associated with the global jihad have launched several rocket attacks on Israel, intentionally breaking the fragile ceasefire that ended Operation Protective Edge nearly a year ago.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for all attacks from Gaza-based jihadists.

"One day after the U.N. report, Gaza remains a breeding ground for terror," IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said in a statement. "Tonight, Israeli civilians were forced to once again find shelter, fleeing the incessant, indiscriminating, and intolerable attacks emanating from the Gaza Strip."

Omar Brigades, a Salafist group supportive of the Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attack.

"In recent days, we received another reminder of the complexity of the situation in the Gaza Strip, a hostile entity controlled by a murderous terror organization, Hamas, which is also challenged by terror groups affiliated with the global jihad," Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said.

Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the "trickling" of rocket fire "intolerable" and "unacceptable," admonishing the government to nip it in the bud.