The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) called up 35 reserve medics on emergency orders to serve in the southern town of Sderot on Monday, local newspaper Ha'aretz said.

The call-up was made as Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a fresh barrage of at least four Qassam rockets towards Israel on Monday, one of them slamming into and damaging a road, though there were no reports of injuries.

Israel's Army Radio also reported that the escalation in the Gaza Strip has caused concern in the IDF that Hamas will again attempt to abduct Israeli troops.

"Israeli forces in the area of the Gaza Strip have been instructed to raise their alertness level for fear that terror organizations may attempt to carry out kidnappings," said the radio.

Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike targeted a car with a rocket cell in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, killing four members of the Islamic Jihad.

The attacks came on the fifth day of an Israeli offensive against gunmen in the Gaza Strip in response to heightened rocket attacks against the southern Israel adjacent to the Gaza.

Eight Palestinians were killed in an airstrike on the house of a Hamas lawmaker in Gaza City Sunday evening, hours after the Israeli government approved targeted assassinations of Palestinians involved in attacks against Israel.

Source: Xinhua