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Jerusalem (AFP) – A rocket was fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, the Israeli army and police said, causing damage in a southern city.
This is one of the first shots fired in recent weeks from the Palestinian territory under Israel's blockade. It comes as tensions between Israel and Palestinian armed groups have resumed.
"At 4:00 am (01:00 GMT), Israelis in the city of Beer Sheva were running to bomb shelters after launching a rocket from the Gaza Strip on Israel," tweeted the Israeli army.
"We will defend Israeli civilians," added the text suggesting a military response.
Israeli police said that "a rocket caused damage to the city of Be'er Sheva a few moments ago", but did not specify the extent of the damage. No injuries have been reported.
The rocket fell into the garden of a house occupied by a family of three children treated for shock, local media reported.
The Israeli army reported that another rocket had been fired towards the sea.
It is unclear who shot the projectiles, but the Israeli army says that it holds Hamas accountable for what is happening in the territory under its control and generally strikes the positions of the Islamist movement in retaliation after such incidents.
This comes after months of violent Palestinian protests on the Gaza border that sparked deadly Israeli fire and the fear of a total conflict between Hamas and Israel, which has waged three wars since 2008.
At least 205 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed since 30 March.
The protesters demanded the right to return to land that was now in Israel, from where their families had fled or been displaced during the 1948 war around the creation of the Jewish state.
The Israeli Defense Minister said Tuesday that the demonstrations could not continue.
"We are not ready to accept the level of violence we see week after week," Avigdor Lieberman told soldiers and commanders at a military base near the southern border of Israel and Gaza. , dominated by Hamas.
He also suspended daily truckloads of fuel shipments to Gaza during the previous week under a deal negotiated by the UN and backed by the United States, Israel and the United States. other.
Thousands of liters have been introduced into the Gaza Strip, which lacks fuel.
The UN said the Israeli-imposed 11-year blockade led by the Islamist Hamas movement had led to a "catastrophic" humanitarian situation.
Gaza's two million inhabitants face difficult living conditions, including a shortage of clean water and regular power cuts, due in part to the lack of fuel for the band's power station.
