(July 25, 2018 / JNS) The Israel Defense Forces hit several targets in the Gaza Strip late Wednesday after a Palestinian sniper moderately injured a soldier patrolling near the border.

“In response to the shooting attack aimed at IDF soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip, IDF artillery targeted seven Hamas military posts in Gaza,” the IDF Spokesperson Unit said in a statement.

Rocket sirens were also sounded in the Sha’ar Hanegev and Sdot Negev regional councils in southern Israel.

According to the IDF, the Palestinian sniper in Gaza fired at Israeli soldiers under the cover of 20 children who were sent towards the border fence as a decoy. It was the second sniper attack against Israeli soldiers this week.

As a result of the escalating situation along the Gaza border, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, along with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman and National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, met at the Defense Ministry headquarters to discuss next moves.

The latest flareup in Gaza comes after Israeli airstrikes last weekend in Gaza in retaliation for the death of an IDF soldier along the border on Friday.