(VOVworld) – Israel has begun to mobilize troops to the area bordering the Gaza Strip after a sharp increase in rocket fire from Palestine into Israeli territory.

Troops deployed ... Israeli soldiers sit atop their tanks on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip. Photo: AFP

At a press conference on Thursday, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said the deployments are a defensive measure in case the situation worsens. Lerner said the mobilization is not intended to escalate violent exchanges with Gaza.

The Israeli police force is in alert nationwide as tensions between Jews and Arabs flared to their worst level in years following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli students and the killing of a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem.