Breaking Ceasefire, Gazans Launch Rocket at Ashkelon

by Israel Hayom Staff

Grad rocket explodes in Ashkelon area on Tuesday morning • No one injured, but road damaged • Rocket was first from Gaza since end of Operation Pillar of Defense in November • No warning sirens heard before explosion.

For the first time since November, Israel was struck on Tuesday by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. | Photo credit: AP

For the first time since Operation Pillar of Defense in November, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck Israel on Tuesday. There were no injuries.

The rocket fired at Ashkelon was of the advanced Grad type, which can reach up to 80 kilometers (50 miles). The rocket was fired from the Rafah area of the southern Gaza Strip.

It is the first time a rocket has been fired at Israel since the end of Operation Pillar of Defense three months ago. The alarm sirens in Ashkelon did not go off as the rocket was fired. Alon Shuster of the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council told Israel Radio that he demanded that an investigation be launched into why the alert did not sound.

The Fatah military wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, claimed responsibility, saying the attack was a response to the "assassination" in prison of Arafat Jaradat. A top official in the Palestinian Authority security apparatus told Israel Hayom that a rocket launch from the Gaza Strip could only have taken place with a "green light" from Hamas. 

Police sappers arrived at the site of the explosion south of Ashkelon to clear the rocket remnants. 

"This was not normal," Yair Farjoun, head of the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, said about Tuesday's rocket attack. "Since Pillar of Defense, there had been absolute quiet in the region."

Referring to the rocket attack, President Shimon Peres said "Israel has an interest in preserving the quiet, and so does Hamas."

Since the end of Operation Pillar of Defense, a number of rockets have been launched from Gaza, but all exploded inside Gaza without reaching Israel.

On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces announced that an Iron Dome battery had been deployed in the Tel Aviv area and would remain there for the next few days. 

The IDF said the Iron Dome was going through an operational absorption process, including the movement of batteries to different locations around the country from time to time.

Israel Hayom Staff

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=7549

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