Early Thursday morning, an IDF patrol was attacked by three mortars launched from the Gaza Strip in the southern Eshkol region. The three shells exploded near the fence between Israel and Gaza. No casualties or damage were reported by the IDF.

In retaliation for the attacks, the IAF targeted and struck a Gazan terror cell. The cell was in final preparations to launch a high trajectory missile into Israeli territory. Before the strike, IDF forces warned nearby Israeli farmers to not work near the border fence today due to the fear of sniper reprisal. Any land as close as 1 km to the Gaza Strip was to be evacuated.

An army spokesman commented on the successful strikes, saying the IDF had “intercepted terrorists during their final preparations to launch rockets towards Israel.” Hamas took responsibility for the early morning strike.

On Wednesday, Palestinians claimed that Israeli forces killed a high ranking member of Islamic Jihad. Mohammed al-Ejlla, in Gaza. The IDF vehemently denies this claim, saying it did not strike in Gaza on the day al-Ejlla was killed. The rocket attacks this morning by terrorists in Gaza are revenge for the death of al-Ejlla.

The attack this morning does not bode well for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry recently visited Israel, acting as a broker of peace between the two sides. While those in Gaza are governed by Hamas and do not fall under the rule of the Palestinian Authority, the mornings attack is a major setback in peace talks.

Ever since Israel gave up the Gaza Strip to Palestinian control in 2005 under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Gaza has become a hotbed of terrorist activity. Last Thursday, Israel targeted three sites in the northern area of the Gaza Strip that concealed rocket launchers and observation posts after rockets were launched from Gaza Strip in the early morning hours. Israel has made it clear it would not tolerate acts of violence against its citizens and would retaliate in kind.