OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Palestinian militants in Gaza fired rockets at southern Israel which were intercepted, the army said on Friday, shortly after warning sirens sounded in the southern Israel.

"Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory," a statement from the army said.

"The rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome Aerial Defence System."

There were no reports of damage as a result of the interceptions, while Israeli emergency medical services saying a few people were treated for going into shock.

Earlier, sirens sounded in the southern portal city of Ashkelon and the area surrounding the Gaza Strip, according to the army statement. The latest fire from the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave came over a month after one a rocket was fired from the coastal strip into Israel.

Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel, seized control of Gaza from the rival Palestinian movement Fatah in 2007 in a near civil war.

Since then Hamas has fought three devastating wars with Israel in the coastal territory where about two million Palestinians live. Israel has since maintained a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip to prevent Hamas from arming.