IDF pounds Gaza for 2nd night in retaliation for rocket & mortar fire

The Israeli Defense Forces have launched a counter-attack on Gaza after a pair of mortars were fired into Israel, the second night in a row of tit-for-tat strikes.

Though the mortar attack late on Wednesday triggered no emergency sirens and reportedly landed in an unpopulated area, resulting in no damage or injuries, the IDF responded with air strikes on a number of targets near Rafah, according to Palestinian media. It is unclear whether there were any casualties in the reprisal.

The strikes come on the heels of over a dozen similar rocket and mortar attacks from southern Gaza over the last week, which Tel Aviv has blamed on Hamas, the Islamist political and militant group that’s controlled the territory since 2007.