JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday threatened to teach Gaza's ruling Hamas movement a lesson “very soon” following a surge in militant rocket attacks on the Jewish state.

“We foil terrorist attacks when we identify that they are in the making and we respond against those who attack us,” Netanyahu told reporters in Jerusalem at a joint press conference with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper.

“If Hamas and the other terror organisations forgot this lesson, they will learn it again the hard way and very soon,” he said.

His warning was issued shortly after Hamas said it had deployed forces in Gaza to “preserve the truce” following an uptick of rocket fire on Israel.

Over the past month, tensions have risen in and around Gaza after more than a year of relative calm following a major Israeli confrontation with Hamas in November 2012.

Since Dec 20, four Palestinians and an Israeli have been killed in violence in and around Gaza, with militant rocket fire sparking retaliatory air strikes by Israel.

Army figures show eight rockets have struck Israeli territory since January 1, and another five were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, sparking fears that a new confrontation with Gaza militants is looming.

Netanyahu has warned that Israel would not allow the intermittent rocket fire to turn into a deluge.

“Security requires constant maintenance which means we don’t accept what I call the ‘drip irrigation’ of rockets without a response — that is not the policy of this government,” he told foreign reporters in an address on Jan 16.

“My government’s policy is to respond so we don't let the drizzle of rocket accumulate into rain, which then develops into a storm.—AFP