The Color Red rocket alert system was sounded Tuesday morning in Gaza vicinity communities, followed by a loud blast caused by a mortar shell which exploded in a parking lot in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council.
The mortar shell, fired from the northern Gaza Strip, damaged one car. A second mortar landed in a nearby field and damaged a hose. There were no reports of injuries.
About three hours later, the Color Red alert system was activated once again and two more explosions were heard in the area. There were no reports of injuries.
The al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad's military wing, claimed responsibility, saying the mortars were directed at a military post east of the Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis.
A rocket fired by Palestinian gunmen on Friday hit an open area within the Sdot Negev Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries or damage. The Qassam was launched three days after a Grad barrage from the Strip – the first rockets to be fired into Israel since the start of the popular uprising in Egypt.
A Grad rocket landed near the southern city of Netivot on Tuesday. Four people suffered from shock, and a parked car and a road sustained damage. Several minutes later, another Grad was fired at the town of Ofakim. Later that evening, a third rocket hit an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council.
One of the people who attended a wedding in a small hall near the rocket's landing site in the Netivot area said, "There was music, then we suddenly hear a loud blast. Everyone - little children and men – ran for cover. People fell over one another. It's a miracle no one was hurt."
Another person who attended the wedding said, "Luckily, the rocket landed after the chuppah, while everyone was already eating at the tables. If it had landed a few meters closer, this could have been a mass casualty event."
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