According to the Israeli army, Israeli airplanes yesterday attacked Hamas military positions in the Gaza Strip in reprisal for rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave governed by the Islamist movement.

"A short while ago, in response to the rocket attack, (Israeli military) aircraft struck a number of Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip," the army said in a statement.

Hamas "launched a rocket... toward Israeli civilians in southern Israel," according to the statement, adding that Israeli air defenses intercepted the projectile.

According to the statement, Israeli aircraft "aircraft targeted a weapons manufacturing site located inside a Hamas military post and an additional three military posts belonging to Hamas,"

Following the blows, fireballs erupted into the air, creating a haze of darkness over the land.

In reaction to the rocket firing, Israel said late Saturday that it was delaying an increase in entry permits for Palestinian laborers from Gaza that had been announced earlier in the week.

After the killing of three Palestinians on Friday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem stated that the air raids in the southeast of Gaza City were an "extension of the aggression against Palestinian territory in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank,"

Friday's Israeli army attack in Jenin, a hotbed of armed Palestinian factions in the West Bank, also wounded twelve Palestinians.

Permit rise suspended

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli forces opened fire on the men's vehicles, resulting in their deaths.

The Israeli army stated that soldiers were fired upon during a search for firearms.

The group stated that one of the victims was a Hamas commander and vowed that the murders "will not go unpunished."

Qassem did not mention whether yesterday's air strikes caused any casualties.

Yesterday evening, Defense Minister Benny Gantz delayed an increase in Israeli entrance permits for Gazan workers "in response to the firing of a rocket toward the state of Israel," according to COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs.

Thursday's announcement of an additional 2,000 admission permits for Palestinian laborers from Gaza would have brought the total to 14,000.

Thousands of Gazans rely on employment in Israel because they earn far greater earnings on Israeli farms and construction sites than in Gaza.

Since 2007, the poor, Hamas-controlled enclave of 2,3 million people has been subject to an Israeli embargo.

In April, Israeli airplanes attacked Gaza after Palestinian armed groups fired rockets from the area.

This discussion occurred after nearly a month of deadly violence centered on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam, occupied east Jerusalem.

In May, while violence erupted in the occupied West Bank but the Gaza border remained tranquil, Israel blocked its only crossing for individuals traveling to or from Gaza for over two weeks.

The turmoil over the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the holiest place for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount, prompted Israel and Hamas to fight an 11-day battle last year.