5 Rockets land in south
Palestinians fire five Qassams at Israel, one rocket lands in strategic area near Ashkelon
The Palestinians fired five Qassam rockets at the western Negev Thursday morning. The "Red Dawn" alert system detected the launching of the rockets.
Later it was reported one of the rockets landed in a strategic area near the southern town of Ashkelon. The Qassams landed in open areas. No injuries or damages were reported in the attack.
Wednesday night, another rocket fired by the Palestinians landed in the same area. The IDF usually responds to the attacks with artillery fire. Also Wednesday, a shell fired by the army was discovered near the Israeli community of Netiv Ha'asara. This marked the second time in less than a month that an IDF shell is found near an Israeli community.
The shell was found between two barriers surrounding the community. Gil Tasa, the community’s security officer, said that “a big disaster has been prevented today, because of the firing itself and because a tractor found the shell while digging, which could have exploded and hurt the driver.”
An unexploded 150mm shell fire by the IDF was found not far from Wednesday’s site three weeks ago.
The Palestinians have recently improved the range of their Qassam rockets. Last week, a rocket landed in Ashkelon's southern industrial zone and hit a strategic facility in the area. One woman suffered from shock and light damages were reported in that attack.
The Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the attack and said it was its new al-Quds rocket, which Ynet reported about and has a particularly long range.
