"Hamas bombards Israel... Israel responds"

According to the New York Times, everything had been wonderful in Israel/Palestine until Hamas (apparently for no reason) fired some mortars at Israel which even their article describes as being the first time Hamas has fired at Israel in ages. None of this counts as escalating tensions:
http://tinyurl.com/5rzs5st
http://tinyurl.com/65tq4hl
http://tinyurl.com/63k6daz
http://tinyurl.com/4jz8vqq