Nahal Oz fields (archives)
Photo: AFP
Palestinians opened fire Sunday afternoon at farmers working in fields near Kibbutz Nahal Oz in the Gaza vicinity. There were no reports of injuries.
The truce was last violated on Thursday, as a Qassam rocket exploded in an open area in the western Negev. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
This is the first time gunmen shoot at farmers since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect about two and a half weeks ago. Since the truce began, Palestinians have fired several Qassam rockets and mortar shells into the western Negev on a number of different occasions.
Previous Violation
Shmulik Hadad
Defense Minister Barak orders security establishment to halt transfer of goods to Strip after Palestinians violate truce, fire rocket toward southern Israel; no injuries reported in attack
Following the rocket fire, Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the army to close all the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The crossings were reopened Sunday morning.
Addressing the fragile truce, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last week that "an absolute lull cannot be imposed within a short while, and therefore we have shown and will show some patience. However, no one should interpret this patience as weakness.
"Should the lull not be maintained, we will respond with full force," he said.