Beersheba schools closed after early morning rocket attacks

Two Grad rockets were fired from Gaza at Beersheba Sunday morning, hours after Israeli planes killed a Hamas terrorist in Gaza.

There were no reports of injuries or damage from the missiles, which landed in open areas near Beersheba, a city of some 250,000. Classes in the city were canceled for Sunday because of the fear of continued rocket fire.

The Salah A-Din Brigades, the military branch of the Popular Resistance Committee, claimed credit for at least one of the Grad rockets on Sunday morning. In a statement, they said the attack was in reaction to innocent civilians injured during “Zionist aggression” in the Gaza Strip. “We will continue the path of Jihad, the best way to free all of our stolen lands,” the statement concluded.

Beersheba Mayor Ruvik Danilovich said that the city refused to risk injuries to students after rockets hit schools four times in the past.

Earlier Sunday morning, Israeli planes struck Gaza after two rockets were fired into southern Israel, seemingly ending a fragile ceasefire between the Hamas-held territory and Israel.

There were no reports of injuries or damage after the rockets landed in open areas in the Eshkol region at around 2 a.m. Sunday.

Map data ©2012 Google, Mapa GISrael, ORION-ME - Terms of Use

Map

Satellite

The Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s office reported that planes hit a terror cell east of Khan Yunis in the strip shortly after the rocket fire.

Palestinians reported that one person was killed and one injured in the air strike, which targeted a cell of the Izz ad-din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.

Several rockets have been sporadically fired into Israel since a shaky truce between Gaza and Israel took effect Thursday morning.

The Grad missile, which has a longer range than the homemade Kassam rocket, marked an escalation in hostilities after the 3-day truce.

The ceasefire followed a day which saw Gazans fire some 80 rockets into southern Israel, injuring over a dozen people.

Israel responded to the rocket fire last week by flying sorties over Gaza, targeting rocket-launching crews. A number of Gazans were killed in those air strikes.