Jerusalem: Two rockets fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip slammed into southern Israel today, despite an Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and the Islamist movement which entered its sixth day.
One of the rockets struck the courtyard of a house in the hard-hit town of Sderot, causing some damage, and another struck a field outside town, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
He said the rockets were the first to be fired from the Palestinian territory since a truce between Israel and the Gaza Strip s Hamas rulers went into effect on June 19.
Islamic Jihad told AFP its fighters had carried out the attack.
The attack, which caused no casualties, came hours after Israeli troops killed a senior Jihad fighter and another young man in the occupied West Bank, which was not included in the truce.
A mortar round fired from northern Gaza hit Israel, also causing no damage.
The truce, which called on Israel to cease all military operations in Gaza and for Palestinian militants to halt their near-daily rocket and mortar attacks, was also aimed at lifting a year-long blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Israel says it must keep up military operations in the West Bank to protect its citizens, and many feared an escalation in violence there could jeopardise the agreement.
Palestinian medics and security sources identified the two men killed in the dawn raid in the northern West Bank town of Nablus as Tareq Abu Ghali, 24,and Iyad Khanfar, a 21-year-old university student.
Source :
PTI
