According to Gaza residents, three Hamas-controlled compounds in Rafah were among the targets hit in Thursday's late night air strikes.

Ghazi Hamad, Hamas' deputy foreign minister, denied any connection between Hamas or the people of Gaza with the attacks in southern Israel.

"From the first moment we are surprised that Israel started to target people. To target civilians, to target places, to target buildings before knowing who stands behind this operation. So, I think that Israel [always] considers Gaza a weak point that they can target them under any circumstances," he said.

Hamad called the rocket attacks from Gaza,"a kind of natural reaction against the Israeli aggression against our people."

He continued: "If they stop their aggression and attacks against Gaza, I think people here are interested in keeping Gaza calm and quiet."

Hamad also said that Hamas was "surprised" that members of the international community had not condemned Israel for "killing civilians".