The relative quiet on the Gaza border was broken Sunday morning when Palestinian gunmen launched a Kassam rocket into Israel.
The rocket exploded in an open area in the western Negev. There were no casualties and no damage was caused.
The last time a Kassam was fired from Gaza was in mid-July, when a rocket struck the Sdot Negev region. There were no casualties or damage in that incident either.
Rocket attacks have been rare since Operation Cast Lead in January and have not caused any casualties.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has vowed to respond to any rocket fire from the Strip, saying in late July, "Our policy is that we are not prepared to accept rocket and missile fire on Israeli territory. For every rocket, before the elections [in February] there may not have been a response, but that has not been the case since the elections. This was and will remain our policy"
Israel has recently conducted successful tests of the Iron Dome missile defense system. The system, under development by Rafael Defense Systems, is slated to become operational sometime in 2010 and is reportedly capable of intercepting short-range Kassam and Katyusha rockets fired by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hizb'allah in southern Lebanon.
Yaakov Katz and Herb Keinon contributed to this report.
jpost
Trackback(0)
TrackBack URI for this entryComments (0)
Show/Hide comments
