Israeli forces launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday in retaliation for Palestinian militants' rocket fire, the Jerusalem Post reported.

An Israel Air Force (IAF) helicopter fired a missile at a building owned by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed offshoot of the ruling Fatah movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, said the report, citing Palestinian sources.

The missile damaged the building but did not cause casualties, it added.

The IAF also launched a missile strike in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, hitting a building that housed a pro-Islamic Jihad (Holy War) charity and moderately wounding five people including a 65-year-old woman and a 4-month-old baby, Palestinian officials said.

The latest escalation of Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip came one day after the Islamic Jihad militants fired 25 homemade rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot in revenge for the Israeli killing of one of its commanders in the West Bank city of Tulkarem Sunday night.

In an earlier response to the militants rocket barrage, Israeli troops in the Negev area fired artillery shells at Qassam rocket crews in northern Gaza on Monday.

Israel Radio reported that Erez and Karni borders crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip were shut down Monday night.

Source: Xinhua