Three Qassam rockets fired Tuesday afternoon from the Gaza Strip landed in the Sderot area, five days after a ceasefire enacted between Israel and Palestinian militant groups last week.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert responded in a statement that the Qassam attack was "a clear violation of the ceasefire understandings."
The Prime Minister's office added that Olmert "warned that the truce may be short-lived. ...Israel has warned against such breaches and will now consider the counter measures at its disposal."
Among the three rockets, one struck a garden in Sderot and two others hit the open area of the western Negev, causing minor property damage, a spokesman of Israeli police Micky Rosenfeld told Xinhua.
Palestinians carry the body of Hamas activist Eyad Khanfar during his funeral procession in the West Bank city of Nablus June 24, 2008. Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including Khanfar, in Nablus on Tuesday in the first fatal raid since a ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip last week. One person was lightly wounded in the barrage, and two others were treated for shock, Rosenfeld added.
Islamic Jihad's al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for firing the Qassam rockets, according to the website of Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
A statement sent to the media by al-Quds Brigades said the rocket attack was in response to the killing of its commander who was killed on Tuesday morning by Israeli soldiers in Nablus city in the West Bank, where is excluded from the ceasefire.
Media report said Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed two Palestinian militants in Nablus.
But a spokesman of IDF told Xinhua that only one gunman, who was a senior operative of Islamic Jihad, was killed in the joint IDF-Shin Bet operation.
According to the website of local daily Ha'aretz, a 24-year-oldgunman by the name of Iad Hanfar of Hamas was also dead in the raid.
Earlier on Monday night, Palestinians fired a mortar shell at the Negev, the first anti-Israel strike since a ceasefire went into effect in the Gaza Strip last week.
Israeli lawmaker Yisrael Katz (Likud) said "Israel must launch a harsh response to the ceasefire breach."
"The ceasefire has ended even before it began," he added.
Source:Xinhua
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