“Two projectiles were identified crossing from the central Gaza Strip into Israeli territory,” the army said in a statement, adding that air raid sirens sounded in the area of Netivot, a town about 10km from the Palestinian territory.

The military statement said “one projectile was intercepted, and one fell in an open area”.

The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza against Israeli forces, announced that it had targeted Netivot “with two rockets in response to the crimes committed by the Zionist enemy against our people”.

It was the first time in several months that launches from Gaza threatened Netivot, home to about 50,000 residents.

The launches came as Israel steps up its operations around Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban centre, which the army has said it intends to capture in a bid to defeat Hamas and return the hostages taken during the group’s Oct 7, 2023 attack.

Yesterday, the army carried out a strike that flattened a high-rise in the city – the second in as many days – and dropped thousands of leaflets on western neighbourhoods calling on residents to evacuate, witnesses and an AFP journalist said.