Rockets From Gaza Hit Deep Into Southern Israel

[bemildred]

GAZA — Palestinian militants fired rockets far into southern Israel late Tuesday and early Wednesday and Israel responded with airstrikes in Gaza.

Tensions were running high after a stray Israeli mortar shell killed three Palestinian youths and a 60-year-old man as Israel responded to a rocket attack a day earlier. In a separate attack on Tuesday night, the Israeli Air Force killed four militants in a car, all members of Islamic Jihad, the organization and the Israeli military said. The army said the men were preparing to launch rockets at Israel.

At least one Katyusha-type rocket hit a street in the center of the southern Israeli city of Beersheva on Wednesday morning, slightly wounding one man and causing damage to nearby houses. Several mortar shells also fell on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, the Israeli military said.

On Tuesday night, a longer-range rocket fell just short of the Israeli port city of Ashdod. The Israeli Air Force struck back at the spot from which the rocket was fired and killed a militant there, according to the Israeli military.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/world/middleeast/24gaza.html