Region | Palestinian Territories
Rocket fired from Gaza Strip strikes Ashkelon
A long-range Grad rocket from Gaza landed in the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Tuesday, police said.
- Agencies
- Published: 10:20 February 3, 2009
Occupied Jerusalem: A long-range Grad rocket from Gaza landed in the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Tuesday, police said.
It's the first such rocket to be fired at the city since a cease-fire was reached between Israel and Hamas militants two weeks ago that ended Israel's bruising three-week-long offensive in Gaza.
The attack came as a Hamas delegation discussed terms for a long-term truce with Israel through Egyptian mediators.
No one was injured in the rocket attack on Ashkelon, a city of 122,000. Israel launched its offensive to halt the near-daily rocket fire from Gaza toward Israel towns and communities. Limited rocket and mortar fire has resumed from Gaza since the truce was reached. The continued attacks have prompted tough warnings from Israeli leaders of a renewed offensive.
More than a dozen rockets and mortar shells were fired from Gaza on Sunday. The following day Israel fired a missile at a car in the town of Rafah, killing a Palestinian militant and bombed the nearby Gaza-Egypt border seeking to destroy tunnels that Hamas uses to smuggle in weapons and supplies.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni pledged to keep hitting Hamas as long as it attacks Israel and ruled out negotiations with the militant Islamic rulers of Gaza.
"Terror must be fought with force and lots of force," Livni said Monday. "Therefore we will strike Hamas."
More from Palestinian Territories
More from Region
News Editor's choice
-
Ukraine leaders fight over Russian language
Violence erupts in Ukraine parliament over a bill to allow use of Russian language in courts, hospitals
-
CBSE: 100% success in many UAE schools
6,000 students from 53 schools meet grade expectations in examinations
-
'I can’t believe he is not going to come back'
Seventeen-year-old boy went missing in Dubai during a visit from Pakistan
