Hours after a Qassam rocket disrupted the tense calm in Sderot and the neighboring Gaza-vicinity communities, the IAF launched a strike in the southern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian witnesses reported the IAF carried out a series of attacks throughout the Strip, hitting targets in Rafah, Khan Younis, and the neighborhoods of Zeitun, Dir el-Balah and Tufah in Gaza City.
On the Gaza-Egyptian border, the IAF struck smuggling tunnels used by terror groups to bring weaponry in from the Sinai. The sources told Ynet that four people have been injured.
The army confirmed airstrikes were being carried out.
Earlier in the evening a resident of Sderot sustained light shrapnel wounds following a Qassam rocket attack on the town. The rocket exploded in a courtyard adjacent to two private homes.
The woman was evacuated to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. Several others were treated at the scene for shock. Damage was caused to several buildings.
The rocket landed just as Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno was touring Sderot with Noam Shalit, father of
kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. The two arrived at the impact site, and talked to residents who had gathered there.
Shalit said he had been surprised by the attack after the sustained period of calm, and told the residents that he sympathized fully with their feelings.
Many residents, on their part, urged Shalit to be more vocal and less polite in his efforts to secure his son's release.
First published: 22:32, 05.19.9