Israel struck Hamas targets in Gaza after an IDF soldier was ambushed, shot and wounded near the border, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.

Following the ambush, Israel targeted seven Hamas sites with tank and artillery fire. Three members of Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades were reported killed in those strikes.

In response, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades warned, “Israel will pay in blood for its latest crimes.”

Nine rockets were fired towards Israel from Gaza after the Israeli strikes. One was intercepted by Iron Dome and the others fell in open fields.

The rockets set off alarms in southern Israel, sending residents of three communities in the Eshkol region to bomb shelters at 5:30 Thursday morning.

The ambush came four days after Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi was killed in a similar incident in the same area, when a group of 20 youth started rioting violently about 400 yards from the border fence. When the IDF soldier attempted to break up the riot, a sniper who had hidden inside the group, shot and wounded the soldier.

After surgery, the soldier, who had been shot in the torso, was reported to be in moderate condition.

[Photo: World Jewish Congress / YouTube ]