After two months of quiet in the South, a Kassam rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into the Eshkol Regional Council on Thursday night. The projectile exploded in an open field and no injuries or property damage was reported.
Near to 9:30 p.m., a siren was heard in Eshkol-area communities, followed seconds later by an explosion.
RELATED:IDF conditionally ceases air strikes on Hamas targets This Week in History: The first Kassam hits Sderot Hamas: We'll broaden attacks if IDF strikes continue The rocket was the first to fall in Israeli territory following two months of calm along the Gaza border. The
last rocket to hit Israel was on April 18, just before the Pessah holiday. No injuries were reported in that attack.
Prior to that attack, the Gaza border region saw the largest escalation since Operation Cast Lead in late 2008 - early 2009.
Ten days into April, the IDF and Gaza-based terrorist groups implemented
an unofficial ceasefire following weeks of rocket and mortar fire
followed by IDF artillery and air strikes in the Strip.
Dozens of rockets and hundreds of mortars were fired from Gaza into Israel in the preceding weeks.
In one attack that escalated the already fragile situation at the time,
Hamas terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus,
killing a teenage boy.
Over 20 Palestinians were killed in escalation and dozens more were wounded.