Jerusalem, September 15: A rocket fired by militants from the northern Gaza Strip overnight struck near the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, police and the army said on Wednesday.
“Last night, the Palestinians fired a rocket at Ashkelon,” police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP.
“It exploded in a field without causing any injuries or damage.”
The Israeli military confirmed that a rocket had hit just to the south of Ashkelon, and that two mortar rounds had also been fired during the morning.
“None of them caused any injury or damage,” a spokeswoman said, indicating that militants in Gaza had fired some eight projectiles into Israel since Sunday morning. So far, noone has been hurt.
The flurry of rocket and mortar fire came just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in Israel to preside over a second day of peace talks between the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships.
It comes after months of relative calm since Israel’s devastating offensive against Gaza at the turn of 2008-9, which it said was aimed at stamping out rocket fire from the territory.
The conflict cost the lives of 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
-Agencies