17 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza: medics

The picture shows a destroyed Hamas compound after an Israeli strike in Gaza City. Israeli jets carried out five strikes in Gaza, wounding at least 17 people. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

GAZA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes carried out seven intensive airstrikes on posts belonging to Islamic Hamas movement' s armed wing al-Qassam Brigades, injuring at least 17 people, medics in Gaza said.

Adham Abu Selmeya, spokesman of Gaza emergency and ambulance services, told Xinhua that 17 Palestinians were injured in the intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, adding that two of them were in serious conditions.

Witnesses said they heard Israeli F-16 warplanes hovering over Gaza City, adding that they suddenly heard a series of explosions when the warplanes fired several missiles at several targets in the costal enclave.

Security sources of Hamas in Gaza said the warplanes targeted training posts belonging to al-Qassam Brigades, as well as metal workshops, a garage and a factory that makes bricks.

The Israeli airstrikes were a response to earlier makeshift mortar and rocket attacks fired from the Gaza Strip on southern Israeli towns and communities, including a Grad rocket that landed in the city of Ashkelon.

Earlier Monday, the deposed government of Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, and al-Qassam Brigades vowed to restore calm with Israel.