JERUSALEM: Israel launched an air strike Monday on a position of the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza after Palestinian militants in the enclave fired a rocket, the military said.

The army, without reporting casualties, said the rocket targeted southern Israel, where sirens sounded to warn of the fire.

According to Palestinian security sources, the Israeli raid caused only material damage in Rafah, southern Gaza.

There was no claim of responsibility for a cross-border rocket attack from the neighbouring Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas.

The last rocket attack, after which Israel also retaliated with air raids, coincided with the September 15 signing in Washington of normalisation deals between the Jewish state and two Gulf countries.

A truce mediated by Qatar has since held.

Israel had previously bombed Gaza almost daily since August 6, in response to the launch of airborne incendiary devices and rocket fire.