Gaza terrorists fire rocket at Israel, but it falls short and lands inside Strip

Gaza terrorists attempted to fire a rocket at Israel on Sunday.

The Kassam missile landed in an open area in the Gaza Strip, causing no injuries or damage, the IDF Spokesman’s Office said.

The rocket fire is a breach of the Egyptian-mediated ceasefire signed by Hamas on November 21 ending Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense. As part of the deal, Hamas agreed to halt its own fire and rein in other terror groups.

Also on Sunday, IDF soldiers arrested two unarmed Palestinians who crossed the Gaza border fence.

In Saturday television interviews, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli army is preparing to deal Hamas “a heavier blow” than it sustained in last month’s eight-day military offensive, Operation Pillar of Fire.

“I’d suggest that Hamas not celebrate” any ostensible victory in the wake of that operation, Netanyahu told Channel 10, indicating that Israel was not finished yet with Hamas, which fired 1,500 rockets at Israel during that campaign. “We inflicted a very heavy blow” on Gaza’s Islamist government, he said. “We destroyed almost all of their long-range rockets,” he noted. “But I’m telling you that the IDF is preparing to strike a still-heavier blow. Our account with Hamas is not closed.”

He said that he would not Israelis to be under “any illusions” that the conflict with Hamas had been resolved by Operation Pillar of Defense.