The Israeli artillery shelled the northern Gaza Strip on Monday evening after Palestinian militants fired rockets at the Jewish state earlier in the day, Israeli military sources said.

Israel Defense Forces in southern Israel fired artillery rounds at northern Gaza in response to a series of rocket attacks launched by the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) from Gaza, the sources said.

There was no immediate report on any casualties.

Earlier in the day, Jihad militants fired 11 homemade rockets at Israel in what the group said was an "initial response" to the Israeli killing of one of its commanders in the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Sunday night.

Loay al-Saadi, a top Jihad militant, was shot dead by Israeli troops during a raid on a militant safe house in Tulkarm. He was the most senior Palestinian militant to be killed since militant groups including Jihad agreed to abide by a de facto truce with Israel in March.

The fresh violence dealt another blow to the already shaky ceasefire deal.

In late September, the Israeli forces launched a series of airstrikes and artillery bombardment on the Gaza Strip following a militant rocket attack.

Source: Xinhua