Israeli warplanes strike Gaza

JERUSALEM, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Israeli fighter jets struck Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early on Thursday, hours after a projectile was launched from the Palestinian enclave at southern Israel, the army said.

"Fighter jets and aircraft struck several military targets in a Hamas compound in the southern Gaza Strip," the army said in a statement.

According to local media reports, a Hamas naval commando base was bombed in the attack. The strikes caused damage but no injuries were reported.

The army said the strikes were a response to balloons carrying explosive devices and a projectile launched from Gaza at Israeli territory on Wednesday evening.

The projectile, apparently a mortar shell, was intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defense system, causing no damage or injuries.

"The Israel Defense Forces views any attempt to harm Israeli civilians with great severity, and will continue to operate with determination against these terror acts," the army warned.

The strikes were carried out as the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza announced that a 15-year-old boy had been killed by Israeli troops during clashes at the fence separating between the besieged enclave and Israel on Wednesday night.

It was the fifth time Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza since Saturday. The army says all the attacks were a response to explosive balloons or projectile sent from Gaza towards southern Israel.

The escalating violence has triggered fears that an informal truce, agreed last November between Israel and Hamas, will collapse.

Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian movement, runs Gaza since 2007. In response, Israel, which accuses Hamas of being a terror organization, imposed a blockade on Gaza with devastating consequences to Gaza's nearly 2 million residents.