Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch on Tuesday said that Israel is on a collision course with the Palestinians and cannot allow the threat to expand to the point that it is at Tel Aviv's doorstep, Israel Radio reported.

Speaking while on a tour of Sderot, Aharonovitch added that Israel can not quietly accept rocket and mortar fire and that the Palestinians need to be hit hard.

Aharonovitch advised Sderot residents to prepare for another round of violent conflict.

The public security minister's visit to the South came as the IDF fired on and killed an armed terrorist who was approaching the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip.

No IDF soldiers were injured in the incident.

Also on Tuesday, two mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, landing in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council Area.

No injuries or damage were reported in the attack.

The IDF had been bracing for an increase in rocket fire from the Gaza Strip after the air force bombed a car traveling in Khan Yunis Saturday morning, killing three senior Hamas operatives who, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said, had been planning attacks against Israelis in the Sinai Peninsula.