GAZA: Israel carried out a series of air strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, witnesses and Hamas officials said, after Palestinian militants from the territory fired rockets into southern Israel.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said five rockets had been fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip earlier in the day, and she was checking the reports that Israel's military had responded with air strikes.

Palestinian witnesses and officials from Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, said four Hamas training camps had been hit in the air strikes. Two children were lightly wounded, medical workers said.