(Bloomberg) -- Israel closed its border crossings with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and a senior minister called for harsher military retaliation after a rocket launched by Palestinian militants struck a home in the southern city of Beersheba.

“The time for trying to work out an agreement is over,” Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said on Army Radio. “Now we need to move on to a more military stage.”

The army said Israeli warplanes were carrying out sorties on Gaza and Israel radio reported that Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gadi Eisenkot cut short a visit to Washington. School in Beersheba was canceled.

Israeli-Gaza confrontations have grown more serious as seven months of protests along the border have rekindled. Nearly 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli army snipers, according to the Gaza Health Ministry’s tally. One Israeli soldier has been killed by Palestinian sniper fire, and thousands of acres of Israeli land have been scorched by airborne kites, balloons and condoms outfitted with incendiary devices sent from the Hamas-run territory.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.