The Israeli Air Force carried out a strike on targets in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, after eight mortar shells were fired into southern Israel several hours earlier.

IDF officials said that they carried out two strikes on terrorist cells planning to launch more rockets into Israel in northern Gaza on Tuesday night. Hamas said that three operatives were killed and another three wounded in the strikes.

Early on Wednesday morning, the IDF struck another rocket-launching squad in southern Gaza near the Rafah crossing, after the squad had fired rockets toward Israel, the IDF spokesman said in a statement.

Ealier on Tuesday, three mortar shells exploded near a kibbutz in the Eshkol Regional Council, and shortly afterward five more mortar shells hit open areas. No casualties or damage was reported.

Israel's Home Front Command instructed residents of the area to remain in bomb shelters.

Earlier Tuesday, an Israel Defense Forces officer was seriously wounded during a military operation near the security fence on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip.

The officer, a company commander in the Givati Brigade, was evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva for medical attention.

The IDF Spokesperson's unit said that the circumstances of the incident were being examined.

The army confirmed that an explosion was heard. Though the cause of the blast is still unclear, the army suspects that the officer was wounded after a roadside bomb exploded in the area. In the past, roadside bombs have been used to target IDF forces patrolling the security fence.

"The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli citizens and security forces and work against anyone initiating terror against the state of Israel," a written statement issued by the IDF said, adding that Israel holds Gaza's Hamas rulers responsible, it said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will deliver a strong response to the attack. "We will fight and we will hit them very, very hard," Netanyahu said.

The attack and the rocket fire came on the same day that the Emir of Qatar visited Gaza in the first visit by a head of state to the blockaded enclave since it was taken over in 2007 by the Iranian-backed Islamist Hamas movement.