Qassam lands in Sderot; no injuries

A Qassam rocket fired from northern Gaza Sunday evening landed in an open area in the western Negev town of Sderot. One man was reported as suffering shock and was taken to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.

No property damage was reported. A brushfire which broke out at the landing site was quickly extinguished by local firefighters.

The rocket landed on a construction site located some 165 feet from a residential complex, not far from Mayor Eli Moyal's home. Moyal was not home at the time of the attack.

"Everything is alright at home," the mayor told Ynet, "the problem here is not a personal one, but a political one. People are under the impression that there is a ceasefire (with the armed Palestinian groups in Gaza), but a few dozen rockets have been fired at Israel since the truce went into effect.

The landing site (Photo: Ze'ev Trachtman)

"If Israel will be dragged into general elections following the upcoming Kadima primaries, the situation will become even more complex," Moyal added. "During the months of the ceasefire the Palestinian groups have armed themselves with thousands of more rockets."

In response to the attack Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the security establishment to keep the Israel-Gaza crossings closed on Monday.

Security officials said that should the situation escalate Israel would be forced to act with resolve against the terrorists in Gaza.

"We can return to the pre-ceasefire situation in whereby we chased after every Qassam-launching cell and responded sporadically," a military official told Ynet.

However, the security establishment estimates that the Qassam attack and last week's detonation of an explosive device near an IDF force patrolling the Israel-Gaza border do not indicate a possible termination of the agreed upon truce.

Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin said recently that the ceasefire with Hamas was holding, despite 36 infractions which were recorded during August.

Ze'ev Trachtman contributed to this report