Israeli artillery fire and a drone strike injured two Palestinians Tuesday in separate incidents east of Gaza City, after a night of heavy shelling on the Strip that injured 18.

Shortly before 10 a.m. artillery fire injured one man in the Ash-Shuja'iyya neighborhood, just after witnesses reported Israeli vehicles penetrating the Gaza Strip in the area.

The injured man was identified as a 21-year-old Gaza resident. Medics did not say if he was a civilian or member of resistance factions which have recently been engaged in ramped-up activity near the border against Israeli forces operating there.

In a second incident that took place before noon, a man was critically injured by a drone strike in the same area.

An Israeli military statement said the fire was aimed at a group "of terrorists preparing to launch an anti-tank missile at an adjacent force, and thwarted the attempt by firing towards it, confirming a hit."

The statement said the Israeli military would "respond with determination to any firing or other terrorist activities emanating from the Gaza Strip, and will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. The IDF warns Hamas not to continue its aggression."