Three rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in Israel on Monday evening with two landing in Beersheba, one in Sderot and one in Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council.
At the same time, the Iron Dome anti-rocket shield intercepted a long-range Grad rocket
over Beersheba which was fired from Gaza.
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Air raid sirens were heard across the Negev city prior to the interception.
A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip also exploded in an open area south of
Ashkelon Monday afternoon, the first since shortly after midnight Sunday night.
No injuries or damage were reported in any of the attacks.
The IDF said overnight Sunday that its aircraft struck a rocket launching cell in Gaza after it fired a projectile into Israel.
"We identified an accurate strike," an IDF spokesman told
The Jerusalem Post.
The
IDF action came after three Kassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip
into southern Israel landed in the Eshkol Regional Council area on
Sunday close to midnight.
No injuries or damage were reported in the attacks.
The IDF
approved a series of operations
aimed at widening the scope of its responses to ongoing Islamic Jihad
rocket attacks from Gaza on Sunday, as Egypt tried to mediate a second
cease-fire after the first attempt at a truce lasted only several hours.
The
planning for an intensified Israeli response, which was overseen by
Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, took place in the command
and control room of the IDF’s Southern Command in Beersheba, and in Tel
Aviv.
As senior defense chiefs spent Sunday preparing for a
further escalation, they treated reports of a new cease-fire with
skepticism, after Gazans shattered a brief calm by attempting to fire a
rocket into Israel around 3 p.m.
The terrorist cell that prepared
the rocket for launch was struck successfully by an air force aircraft,
thwarting the attack. The cell reportedly belonged to the Democratic
Front for the Liberation of Palestine. One terrorist was killed and
another was seriously wounded.