BICOM

Southern Israel was hit by 16 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip during the night, no casualties or damage was reported. Israel’s air force attacked rocket launching sites and training bases in response.

The rockets fell in the Eshkol and Shar Hanegev regions in southern Israel. Although school has not been cancelled today Israeli communities near the Gaza border have been asked to stay within a 15-second distance from a secure shelter. In response to the rocket fire, IDF spokesmen announced that the Israel Air Force struck targets in Gaza, including a rocket launching site in the northern Gaza Strip and a training base in southern Gaza.

The violence comes just three days after an informal truce came into effect between Israel and Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. The understanding followed the worst outbreak of violence in the Gaza region in months, which took place last week when more than 75 rockets were fired at Israeli communities.

Yesterday, air raid sirens sounded in Beer Sheva where schools were cancelled for the day, after Palestinians fired three long-range Grad rockets at the city from Gaza. The Popular Resistance Committees, one of several smaller factions in the Gaza Strip, said it had launched one of the projectiles. Hamas’s armed wing said it fired mortar shells at IDF bases in the area. In recent months, Hamas has distanced itself from such attacks, but in the last few weeks it has taken a direct role in the violence.