Israeli jets strike Hamas sites in Gaza

OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Israeli air force jets have struck Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip after rockets were fired on Friday from the territory towards Israel, the army said.

The exchange came after Hamas, an Islamist movement, warned that Israel’s planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank amounted to a "declaration of war".

Israel jets struck ammunition and rocket "factories" in the southern Gaza Strip, the army said.

Security sources in Gaza confirmed to AFP there were strikes in the area of Khan Yunis, at the southern tip of the Palestinian territory of two million inhabitants.

Two rockets were fired on Friday from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory, the army said earlier.

"Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory," the Israeli military said in a statement, after saying "sirens sounded in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip".

Medics said the sirens sounded in the Israeli district of Sderot.

It was the first reported rocket fire from the Gaza Strip since early May.

Israel’s proposal to annex its settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley form part of a broader US peace plan released in January.