Two rockets were launched Sunday morning from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, setting off sirens in the city of Netivot and in the Sdot Negev Regional Council near the Gaza border. One rocket was intercepted by Israel’s air defenses and the other landed in an open area. According to Magen David Adom, no casualties or damage were reported.
It was the first time in three weeks that a rocket from Gaza managed to cross into Israeli territory — 702 days after Hamas’ October 7 massacre. In recent weeks, several alerts were triggered in southern Israel due to suspected launches, though most turned out to be false alarms.
This was only the second time in 2025 that rocket sirens were activated in Netivot. The previous incident occurred just after midnight on January 1, as Israelis rang in the New Year. Before that, the last time sirens sounded in the city was in June 2024, during the 12-day war with Iran.
Last month, a rocket fired from northern Gaza struck near a cowshed in Kibbutz Sa’ad, while another was apparently intercepted. The night before, alerts were triggered in Kibbutz Sufa. A month earlier, a rocket launched from Khan Younis landed in an open area near Kissufim, amid a crisis in hostage negotiations.
In July, the IDF lifted restrictions that had designated Gaza border communities as closed military zones since October 7. The decision followed a government vote declaring there was no longer a “security impediment” to residents returning to their homes in the western Negev.