BICOM

Several Kassam rockets were fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Thursday morning, with two landing in the southern Israeli town of Sderot.

There has been calm in southern Israel since a cease fire brought an end to Operation Pillar of Defence in November, during which Israel sought stop an increased rate of rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli population centres. Although a rocket landed just south of Ashkelon late last month, this morning’s incident is the first of its kind to impact a residential area since November.

Warning sirens were sounded in Sderot at around 7.15am local time, quickly followed by additional sirens in both Sderot and the nearby Shar Hanegev region. Two of the rockets landed in Sderot, one causing damage to a private residence while the other fell in an open area. No casualties or injuries were reported. According to the YNet news site, initial assessments indicate that the rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.

The rocket attack comes at the start of the second day of US President Obama’s visit to Israel and the region. Sderot mayor David Buskila said that the incident was timed to deliberately coincide with the Presidential trip, commenting, “The rockets fired at the city this morning are the Gaza organizations’ way of communicating with the US president… that he can go to Ramallah… and finalize things with [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas, but that they are the ones setting the tone in regards to calm or escalation in the region.” However, Buskila predicted “I think this was a one-time incident and I hope it will stay that way.”