Four homes in Sderot were hit by machinegun fire from the Gaza Strip Wednesday night. No one was harmed.
Shmuel Moyal, owner of one of the homes, told Ynet, "I was studying when I heard something move. It was terrifying."
Among the structures damaged was the home of former Sderot mayor Eli Moyal, who said he was also home when he heard a "terrible racket. It was frightening. I went out into the yard and saw shards."
The shooting came a short time after the IDF attacked a Hamas post in the northern strip with tank fire, in retaliation to prior Hamas fire directed at Israeli forces.
A statement by the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said that, "Heavy machinegun were fired by terrorists from Gazan territory. The IDF looks gravely upon the incident and considers Hamas responsible for all goings-on in and coming out of the strip."
Earlier in the day, an IDF tank fired at a Hamas post in the northern strip in retaliation to fire a force had sustained. There were no Israeli casualties.
In light of the calm nevertheless achieved in the area, the IDF has decided to thin out some of the reinforcements it had brought in to assist the Gaza Division this past week.
Israeli assessments now say border confrontations will decrease over the coming days, but smaller reinforcements will still remain near the border throughout the weekend.
A false Code Red alarm sounded in the Eshkol Regional Council Tuesday, the culmination of exceedingly high tensions in the border communities over the past several days.
On a related matter, senior Hamas official Salah Bardawil told Palestinian media Wednesday that 50 of those killed in the Gaza Strip border riots Monday belonged to the terror group's ranks .He spoke in an interview to Baladna TV, a private Palestinian news outlet.