Missiles fired from Gaza, marring Shoah remembrance ceremony

Three missile were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel Sunday night, minutes after Israelis began somberly marking the destruction of Europe’s Jews 70 years ago.

Several explosions were heard in the Western Negev region and the remains of a rocket were found in the open area in the Shaar Hanegev region. No injuries or damage were reported. Two of the rockets landed inside Gaza.

A video from a Holocaust remembrance ceremony in the area shows crowds scrambling cover as the alert siren sounds.

The missiles from the Gaza Strip were fired as Israel began observing the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, but may have been aimed to coincide with a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Israel Sunday afternoon to push forward peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

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The missiles fell as Kerry was in Ramallah holding talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Several rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel last week, as tensions in the West Bank ramped up, but they did not cause any injuries or damage. Israel responded with a bombing sortie over the Strip, seen as a warning.

Hamas, which rules the Strip, blamed the fire on rogue groups and said it arrested a rocket launcher.

Last month, when US President Barack Obama was visiting Israel, two rockets were also fired, one of which landed alongside an empty kindergarten in the southern town of Sderot.

The building was damaged, but nobody was injured because the school was closed for the Passover vacation.