Palestinians fire rockets from Gaza into Israel

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip fired seven rockets into Israel on Monday but caused no casualties, the army said.

It said the projectiles fell in the Negev region of southern Israel, with two of them targeting the town of Sderot.

Police said in a statement that a road in a residential neighbourhood of Sderot was slightly damaged.

Gaza security sources said Israeli aircraft retaliated with strikes on open ground near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip and against a base of the Hamas military wing at Khan Younis, further south.

The Israeli navy also fired at the Khan Younis base, they said, adding that altogether two people were lightly injured.

An Israeli military statement said aircraft attacked “two terror activity sites in the southern Gaza Strip and a third site in the central Gaza Strip, in response to the latest severe aggression emanating from Gaza. Direct hits were confirmed”.

It made no mention of naval action.

A Palestinian security source said Hamas evacuated its bases for fear of further air raids.

An Israeli army statement said that prior to the rocket barrage, militants fired an anti-tank missile at an army patrol on the border fence but caused no injuries or damage.

The attacks came during a public holiday in Israel marking the last day of the Jewish festival of Passover.