GAZA, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement held Israel responsible for the military escalation in Gaza Strip after one of its militants was killed in an Israeli airstrike Thursday.

"Israel's targeting resistance sites reflects the bankruptcy of the occupation and its failure against the will of the Palestinian people to continue the Great March of Return," Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanoua said in a press statement.

Hamas' armed wing al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement that one of its militants was killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier on the day.

Earlier, Israeli army said its fighter jets struck a Hamas military compound in northern Gaza Strip early on Thursday in response to an explosive device detonated against a military vehicle near the Gaza-Israeli border fence on Wednesday.

Palestinian militants fired machine guns at an Israeli jet but missed it, the Israeli army noted.