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Israeli airstrikes follow deadly rocket launch from Gaza

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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli aircraft fired missiles at targets in Gaza late Wednesday and early Thursday, Israeli and Palestinian authorities said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The attack came hours after Palestinian militants launched four rockets from northern Gaza on Wednesday morning and hit the Israeli town of Sderot, killing one woman and wounding a man, Israeli police and medical sources said.

In the subsequent Israeli attack, helicopters fired two missiles into a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza City, according to Palestinian security sources.

The sources said the missiles struck the western Gaza City home of Issa Shrafi, whose son, Aziz Shrafi, is a member of the Popular Resistance Committees. The sources said a half-hour warning was given before the missiles were launched just after 11 p.m. Wednesday.

About 30 minutes after the first strike, an Israeli aircraft fired missiles at the home of Nehru Masoud, a member of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigade -- the military wing of Hamas -- in a different refugee camp. And 20 minutes after that, the home of another member of Izzedine al-Qassam Brigade was hit.

The Popular Resistance Committees and Hamas are designated terrorist organizations by the United States, the European Union and Israel.

The Quartet of Middle East peace brokers -- the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia -- has boycotted the Hamas-led Palestinian government since it came to power in March after elections.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed all three airstrikes, saying the first two targeted structures used by militants to store weapons and the third targeted a gathering center for militants.

A fourth airstrike was reported in Rafah in southern Gaza. There was no immediate information regarding the target. A fifth airstrike apparently targeted a house in one of the refugee camps that belongs to a member of the militant group Islamic Jihad, Palestinian security sources said.

Responsibility claimed

Israel earlier condemned the deadly Wednesday morning rocket strike on Sderot.

Both the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigade and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the Gaza City-based Ramattan News Agency.

"The occupation hasn't stopped attacking Palestinians before or after Beit Hanoun, so we say resistance is a right of Palestinians," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Islamic Jihad is also considered a terrorist group by the United States.

"This is precisely the type of murderous attacks that we are trying to prevent," a statement from the Israeli prime minister's office said. "Israel will take any means necessary in protecting our citizens."

The attack comes in the midst of increased Israeli strikes designed to suppress rocket launches from Gaza.

Israel was hit with a global backlash of harsh statements last week after a barrage of artillery fire into the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun resulted in the death of 18 Palestinians -- mainly women and children. Israel blamed the misfire on a "technical failure."

In the United States on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his country would not be deterred.

"The operations in Gaza will continue without letup," Olmert told AP.

The Mideast Quartet has repeatedly insisted Hamas recognize the state of Israel, end violence and accept past interim peace deals with Israel. Hamas has so far resisted international pressure and calls by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to moderate its stance on Israel.

The Quartet held a working-level meeting in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday, expressing hope that a proposed unity government could be formed by Palestinians that would bring about renewed engagement in the peace process, according to the U.N. Web site.

CNN's Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.

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