2 Qassams land in western Negev; no injuries
On backdrop of drop in number of rockets fired at Israel from Gaza, Color Red alert system activated once again in south of country
The rockets landed within the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries or damage. The Color Red alert system was activated prior to the landing.
Despite the drop in the number of Qassams fired from the Gaza Strip since the IDF's Operation Warm Winter, the Palestinians continue to fire rockets and mortar shells on a nearly daily basis.
Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal said that the municipality did not rely on the relative calm in the past 24 hours.
"This calm is false, deceiving and extremely dangerous. Last week we held a wide-scale emergency economy drill, in which we examined the functioning of all the systems during times of emergency.
"We are constantly preparing. We know that this calm is not caused by ideological reasons, but serves (Hamas leader) Ismail Haniyeh or other elements, who are continuing to arm themselves in the meantime.
PR efforts abroad
Moyal left Wednesday for a series of lecturer at Yale University in the Unites States, after being invited by Jewish groups to take part in their PR activities. According to the Sderot mayor, he has recently received five more invitations to carry out such activities in Canada, Britain and other places in the US.
According to Moyal, he is unable to leave Sderot for long, and will therefore fly to London for a lecture and return immediately afterwards. He delivered a similar lecture in London several weeks ago.
"Unfortunately, not enough is being done in terms of PR activities abroad. In my conversations I talk about the situation in the Middle East, and of course about Sderot's situation, in order to illustrate directly what we are feeling here."
Data collected by the IDF regarding the rocket and mortar shell fire in recent months revealed a troubling picture.
According to the figures, obtained by Ynet, the Islamic Jihad terror group has recently began manufacturing rockets capable of reaching a 12.5-mile range, similar to the Grad rockets already in use by terror organizations in Gaza.
The new rockets are armed with a much deadlier warhead that carries double the amount of explosives compared to the regular Qassams, the IDF has recently learned.
According to army data, the terror groups have made use of the new rocket at least three times since Operation Warm Winter in Gaza concluded.
Regular Qassam rockets carry about 11 lbs of explosives and have a 4.5 inch caliber, while the new ones can carry up to 22 lbs of explosives and have a 6.5 caliber. The new rockets are also more accurate and sophisticated and are made out of lighter materials.
The IDF also learned that the armed groups in Gaza have recently obtained two new types of Iranian-made 4.7 inch caliber mortar shells: The first is equipped with an auxiliary engine and can travel up to 6.2 miles, while the other can reach a distance of 3.7 miles.
