The Israeli army launched airstrikes on targets in the Gaza Strip at dawn on Thursday, after rockets were fired from the territory into Israel about two hours earlier. Shortly after 6:00 am local time (0400 GMT), black smoke rose over one of the targeted locations north of Gaza City. In a statement sent to the press a few minutes later, the Israeli army said that it was "carrying out strikes in the Gaza Strip". Earlier the military said six rockets had been fired from the Gaza Strip, five of which were intercepted by air defense systems while one fell in an open area.