Sharjah24 - AFP: After US Secretary of State Antony Blinken encouraged calm during a visit to the area the day before, Israel intercepted a missile fired from Gaza on Wednesday.
There were no reports of casualties or damage from the launch, which was not immediately claimed by any armed group in the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory.
It follows cross-border rocket fire from the strip last week in retaliation for a deadly Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, and a shooting attack outside a synagogue in annexed-east Jerusalem on Friday that killed seven civilians.
That attack on the Jewish Sabbath was the deadliest targeting Israeli civilians in more than a decade and was celebrated by many Palestinians in Gaza and across the West Bank, where bloodshed is also rising.
Last week, Israeli forces killed 10 people the Jenin refugee camp in their deadliest raid in the West Bank in nearly two decades. Israel said Islamic Jihad militants were the target of the operation.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Islamic Jihad both fired rockets at Israel after Thursday's raid.
Israel then hit Gaza with retaliatory air strikes, and the Palestinian groups vowed further action.
The army on Wednesday said "one rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip" and was "intercepted" by Israel's air defence system.
The Israeli army said sirens sounded in the city of Sderot and other areas close to Gaza.
Blinken left the region late Tuesday after meeting Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
The top US diplomat had urged both sides to take "urgent steps" to restore calm.
Washington has no contact with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organisation.
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