By Xinhua
Gaza : Palestinian fighters on Monday continued to fire home-made rockets into southern Israel which withdrew troops from northern Gaza Strip after two-day incursion that killed tens of Palestinians.
Israeli army radio said three Grad rockets landed on the coastal city, hitting a house and causing damage. But there were no reports of casualties.
Armed Palestinian groups frequently fired rockets into Ashkelon in the past but had rarely reached their destination.
Ezz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed responsibility for launching a rocket into southern Israel’s port city of Ashkelon.
Khaled al-Batsh, a leader of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement which is believed to stand behind the firing of the other two missiles, said that “the rockets of resistance fall on Ashkelon” and Sderot, a southern Israeli town which has been the target of the Palestinian makeshift rockets for years.
By targeting Ashkelon, “the number of the settlers who are not immune from the resistance rockets jumped from 150,000 to 400,000,” al-Batsh said.
Meanwhile, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) said their fighters had fired five rockets into Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.
According to the Israeli radio, 12 rockets have landed on Israel since Monday morning, causing no casualties since most of them hit open areas.
Israel started a series of airstrikes on Gaza Strip on Wednesday and sent troops into northeast Gaza on Friday night to distance Palestinian rocket squads from the border.
During the Israeli offensive since Wednesday, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed, including women and children.