Israeli warplanes launched a strike at a Gaza target early Friday morning, the military said, hours after Palestinian militants fired two rockets at southern Israel.

"Israeli army aircraft thwarted an attempt by a terrorist squad to fire rockets at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip," a statement from the army read.

Palestinian sources said two residents of the Zeitun neighbourhood were lightly wounded in the strike.

On Thursday night, Palestinian militants fired two rockets at Israel, neither of which caused damage or injuries.

Palestinian militant group Popular Resistance Committee (PRC) claimed on Thursday night it had launched a Grad rocket at Israel.

A brief statement from the group said the launch was "in defence of al-Quds," the Arabic name for Jerusalem, as recent days have seen a rise in unrest on the Old City compound that houses the Al-Aqsa mosque.

A demonstration in support of Palestinian sovereignty in Jerusalem was to be held in Gaza on Friday.

The PRC statement comes as the other Palestinian factions were in Cairo, where talks on forming a unity government between Fatah and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, had been postponed.

The PRC is not part of the Cairo process for Palestinian unity.

Last weekend, four Palestinians were wounded in Israeli air strikes on Gaza, which came after four rockets had hit southern Israel. Since the beginning of the year, Palestinian militants in Hamas- controlled Gaza have fired more than 40 rockets at southern Israel, army statistics show.

Hamas has maintained a tacit truce with Israel, but other armed groups regularly fire rockets across the border, usually sparking retaliatory air strikes. (Copyright © 2012 Agence France Presse. 02/23/12)