JERUSALEM, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Israel's army said it fired artillery on Thursday night at two Hamas posts in Gaza Strip after a rocket was fired from the Palestinian enclave at southern Israel.

"An IDF (Israel Defense Forces) tank and an IDF aircraft targeted two Hamas military posts in the northern Gaza Strip," a spokesperson with the Israeli army said in a statement.

The statement added it was a retaliation for a rocket that Palestinian militants in Gaza fired earlier on Thursday night at southern Israel.

The rocket exploded in an open field and triggered sirens in several southern communities in Israel. No damage or injuries were reported.

Palestinian militants in Gaza occasionally fire rockets at southern Israel and the Israeli military usually retaliates with bombing of the posts of Hamas, which runs Gaza.

Israel has been imposing a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over the enclave in 2007.