Palestinian militants have fired rockets towards Jerusalem for the first time since fighting across the Israel-Gaza border intensified while Israel kept up air strikes on Gaza amid Egyptian efforts to forge a ceasefire.
Rocket sirens sounded in the town of Beit Shemesh and elsewhere in the hills outside Jerusalem, ending a 12-hour lull in fighting.
Brief explosions could be heard in Jerusalem, possibly from Israeli missile defences intercepting the rockets.
The Israeli military did not immediately confirm any interceptions near Jerusalem.
Local media reported Israeli air defences shot down two longer-range rockets.
Israeli towns near the Gaza border also came under renewed rocket fire.
Shortly afterwards, Israel renewed air strikes against the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Gaza Strip.
No injuries were reported in Friday’s violence, the latest setback in Egyptian attempts at engineering a truce.
Israeli forces launched an air strike campaign against the Islamic Jihad leadership in the early hours on Tuesday, accusing them of planning attacks on Israel.
Islamic Jihad, the second largest armed group in Gaza after the ruling Islamist Hamas, has since fired almost 1000 rockets, some deep into Israel.
At least 31 Palestinians in densely populated Gaza, including women and children, have been killed in the past three days, while one person in Israel was killed when an apartment was struck by a rocket in a Tel Aviv suburb.
Read the article in Shepparton News (AAP newswire).