injured in an Israeli air strike at an airport in southern Gaza, Palestinian medical officials and witnesses said.

The strike targeted Gaza's defunct international airport, located near the town of Rafah, late on Friday, witnesses said.

The Israeli army told Al Jazeera that the attack targeted "a terror site" and said its pilots confirmed that the target was hit.

It also confirmed that it hit two smuggling tunnels and a weapons manufacturing site in another strike 24 hours earlier.

Al Jazeera's Casey Kauffman, reporting from Gaza, said Israel called the strike a reaction to rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel a day earlier.

"It's the second night of attacks in the Gaza Strip," he said.

"The Israelis say it is in retaliation for the rocket attack, but ... the group that claimed responsibilityfor the attack [on Israel] says [the rocket attack] is in reaction to what's perceived as [Israeli] aggression and provocation in the West Bank."

Fierce clashes

The two days of strikes come amid the backdrop of clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli police in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Palestinians on Friday fought running battles with Israeli police in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, the latest clashes since Israel announced the construction of 1,600 new homesin East Jerusalem.

Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Hebron, said heightened tensions throughout the past week have erupted into open confrontation.

"The situation has quietened down, but there were fierce clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers," she said.

"The amount of tear gas used in the city is just quite unbelievable and a dozen