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JERUSALEM, Sept 7, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The Israeli army said two projectiles 
were launched Sunday from the Gaza Strip, with Palestinian militant group 
Islamic Jihad claiming responsibility for the rocket fire, which caused no 
casualties or damage.

"Two projectiles were identified crossing from the central Gaza Strip into 
Israeli territory," the army said in a statement, adding that air raid sirens 
sounded in the area of Netivot, a town about 10 kilometres (six miles) from 
the Palestinian territory.

The military statement said "one projectile was intercepted, and one fell in 
an open area".

The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza 
against Israeli forces, announced that it had targeted Netivot "with two 
rockets in response to the crimes committed by the Zionist enemy against our 
people".

It was the first time in several months that launches from Gaza threatened 
Netivot, home to about 50,000 residents.

The launches came as Israel steps up its operations around Gaza City, the 
territory's largest urban centre, which the army has said it intends to 
capture in a bid to defeat Hamas and return the hostages taken during the 
group's October 7, 2023 attack.

On Saturday, the army carried out a strike that flattened a high-rise in the 
city -- the second in as many days -- and dropped thousands of leaflets on 
western neighbourhoods calling on residents to evacuate, witnesses and an AFP 
journalist said.