Mortar shell fired from Gaza hits open field in southern Israel
Projectile causes no injury or damage as it lands in Eshkol region; siren didn’t sound since it was bound for unpopulated area
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
A mortar shell fired from the Gaza Strip landed in a field in southern Israel late Wednesday night, causing neither injury nor damage, the army said.
The projectile hit an empty field in the Eshkol region, next to the southern Gaza Strip, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces.
As Israel’s alert system identified that the projectile was bound for an unpopulated area, no siren was sounded in the region.
The Gaza mortar fire came as most of the Israeli public’s attention was focused on the country’s northern borders, as for the third day in a row errant rockets from the fighting in Syria landed in the Golan Heights.
The last time a projectile was fired from Gaza was last month when a missile launched from the coastal enclave landed in the Israeli city of Sderot, causing no injury.
In response to the rocket fire, Israel launched two attacks on Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. The first was a more limited assault, while the second comprised nearly 50 strikes on “key Hamas strategic assets,” military sources said at the time.
Launches from Gaza are infrequent and usually carried out by small fringe groups without the approval of Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
Nevertheless, Israel has said it holds Hamas responsible for any attacks emanating from Gaza and routinely responds to such launches with strikes inside the Palestinian territory.
The Times of Israel Community.