"The exercise simulates a variety of scenarios at the front as well as deeper into the fighting," a senior official in the Southern Command told Israel's Jerusalem Post. (Reuters photo)

JERUSALEM, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Israel's army held a large-scale drill near the Gaza fence on Tuesday, simulating another flare-up with the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The exercise is led by the Israel Defense Forces' Gaza Division, which tested the army's preparedness to a sudden attack in which Gaza gunmen on motorcycles infiltrate Israel through cross-border tunnels and storm communities in southern Israel.

"The exercise simulates a variety of scenarios at the front as well as deeper into the fighting," a senior official in the Southern Command told Israel's Jerusalem Post.

Israel concluded a bloody 51-day military campaign in Gaza in the summer of 2014, claiming the lives of at least 2,251 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 72 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Since then, Gaza militants have been firing rockets toward southern Israel, usually without causing damage or injuries, and Israel responses with airstrikes. However, the tension has not escalated to a full-blown war.