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Gaza militant rocket hits Israel, Israel responds with air strikes, shells

Israeli police said the rocket hit “between two buildings on a road” in Sderot, which is less than four kilometres from Gaza, causing no casualties.

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Israeli artillery also fired three shells into an open area near Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza strip, they added.

Israeli media said it was the first time downtown Sderot had been hit by a rocket from Gaza since the last war with Palestinian militants in the territory in 2014.

Extremist Salafist gunmen took responsibility for the rocket attack, but Israel has repeatedly said that Hamas is the sovereign power in the Gaza Strip and is therefore responsible for all rocket fire coming from Gaza. Israeli authorities accused Abdul Majid Amaira of carrying out a fire shooting attack in July which wounded an Israeli rabbi.

Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said in a statement that the military “remains committed to the stability of the region and operated in order to bring quiet to the people of southern Israel”. Israel holds Hamas responsible for all attacks emanating from the territory.

While Hamas has largely observed the ceasefire, smaller militant groups have defied the agreement and occasionally launch rockets at Israel.

Palestinian fighters of Ezz Al-Din Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, display Qassam home-made rockets..

During 2014, one of the recent bloodier years, more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed.

PALESTINIAN militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into southern Israel on Sunday, prompting the Israeli military to respond with air strikes and tank fire on targets inside Gaza.

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It is reported that the goal of the detainees was a protest against the recent military operations of the Israeli Air Force in the Gaza Strip.

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