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Israeli warplanes strike Gaza following rocket fire

One Palestinian moderately injured in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel responds to rockets with airstrikes
A file picture taken late at night on 23 August 2014 shows smoke and fire billowing from a shopping centre following an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah (AFP)

The Israeli military hit the Gaza Strip with airstrikes overnight, injuring one Palestinian, reports said on Friday.

Warplanes targeted a military base in Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, moderately wounding one, Al Jazeera quoted medical sources as saying.

An open field in Beit Hanoun and a military site in the Zeitoun neighbourhood east of Gaza City were also struck, the news website said.

The airstrikes came after Israeli media reported that a number of rockets had been fired from Gaza at southern Israel.

According to Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, one of the rockets landed in the city of Sderot, causing damage to an empty bus but no injuries.

The Israeli news site Ynet reported that the Iron Dome missile defence system had shot down a seperate rocket, in the first use of the Iron Dome since the 2014 Gaza war.

Ynet also said that a house in Sderot was damaged in one of the rocket attacks, without causing injuries.

Earlier, the Israeli army shot live ammunition at Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who were close to the border with Israel, the Palestinian news agency Maan reported. There were no injuries.

The exchange of fire came as Palestinians clashed with Israeli security in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank over tensions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

All men under 40 were denied entry to the Muslim holy site earlier on Friday - a mass of worshippers instead prayed outside the compound. Clashes broke out shortly afterwards.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," saying that was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem along with the rest of the West Bank during the 1967 War. It unilaterally annexed the city in 1980 in a move condemned by the international community.

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