Israeli fighter jets hit 25 Hamas targets in Gaza Strip early Wednesday, in an overnight escalation with around 45 rockets fired from Gaza towards Israeli targets. The Israeli offensive on Gaza began when flaming kites were launched from the enclave at Israeli targets, causing fires. Israeli officials threatened they would not succumb to the situation since the "March of Return" began at the end of March. While the army hinted at a wide ground operation “if necessary”. Palestinian factions responded by insisting that they would respond to shelling by shelling and that they were the ones to determine the rules of engagement. Israeli spokesperson said the overnight Israeli strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip were more intense and could increase if the Palestinian group continues to launch “arson balloons” into Israeli territory. The military said Palestinians fired about 45 rockets and mortars at Israeli targets. Seven projectiles were intercepted by the defense system and at least three fell prematurely, landing inside Gaza, it said. Fighter jets targeted about 25 Hamas targets overnight in response to the heavy Palestinian fire, the spokesman said. “The Hamas terror organization targeted Israeli civilians throughout the night with a severe rocket attack and is dragging the Gaza Strip and its civilians down a continually deteriorating path,” the military said. The spokesman said so far the army has fired near those launching the devices and at infrastructure but added Israel has warned it “will not tolerate” the current situation of daily airborne attacks on its territory. There were no Israeli casualties, but five Palestinians were injured in Israeli raids. The new escalation, third in a month, has raised fears of a collapse of the current truce which Egypt set up last month in the Gaza. Speaking at the same event, Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot said the army is working “around the clock” to fend off attacks and protect Israeli citizens. “We will continue to strike those who wish us harm and will bring back security to the residents of the south, as it is in other parts of the country. I am convinced that we will achieve this quickly, with wisdom and determination,” Eisenkot said. Israeli media quoted a senior Israeli officer warning Hamas that Israel would not hesitate to enter into a military conflict. An army official stressed that kites and balloons will not be allowed if the price is to go into a comprehensive confrontation. The Israeli army decided to respond to flaming kites by carrying out raids in Gaza, hours after Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned Hamas that Israel would not allow Gaza residents to continue firing kites and balloons, which led to hundreds of fires in recent months." On Wednesday, an Israeli fighter jet fired warning shots at a group of Palestinians preparing to fly incendiary kites toward Israel from Gaza, for the second time of the day, the army said. Member of cabinet, Minister Zeev Elkin, said that Israel can not allow firing of balloons and burning kite to continue. Minister Yisrael Katz warned that the army has set a red line, and considers any flaming kite as a rocket or tunnel. He asserted: "Israels message is clear: calm will be met by calm and fire by fire,” adding: "the ball is now in Hamas court." Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum praised the attacks, calling them “a legitimate right” and asserting that bombings would be “met with bombings,” but did not take direct responsibility for them. He tweeted that Hamas will “determine the rules of engagement,” and added that his group “will not allow the enemy to single out our people or impose any new equation, and it must bear the consequences.” A spokesperson for Islamic Jihad insisted that “the resistance” would retaliate against any Israeli strikes on Gaza. “The time in which Israel army operated unimpeded in Gaza is over,” he said, indicating: “Gaza is not an F-16 firing range and the resistance has the right and duty to respond as it sees fit.” The Joint Chamber of Palestinian resistance factions issued a statement confirming that it will not allow the enemy to impose its aggressive equations on “our people and its resistance. The enemys leadership will take full responsibility for any aggression and will pay for its aggression."