TEL AVIV, June 18. /TASS/. Sirens were sounded in southern Israel on Friday after machine gun fire was opened towards Israel, no missiles or mortars were launched, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

"After the previous report about air defense sirens sounding in southern Israel, we report that the warning was caused by machine gun fire from the Gaza Strip aimed at the Israeli territory and not missiles," the statement reads. Earlier, the IDF press service reported that sirens had been sounded in the Kfar Aza kibbutz located near the border with Gaza.

The Kan state radio reports that sirens went off in south Israel for the first time since May 21 when Hamas and Israel reached a ceasefire agreement following 11 days of intense missile exchanges that left 256 people in Gaza dead and around 2,000 more injured.