Gaza militants fire rocket at southern Israel: army

Source: Xinhua| 2019-08-17 03:31:26|Editor: yan
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JERUSALEM, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Militants from the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at southern Israel on Friday night, causing no injuries, the Israeli military said in a statement.

The rocket triggered sirens across several Israeli communities in the vicinity of the Gaza border, it said.

"One projectile was launched from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory and intercepted by the Iron Dome, Israel's anti-rocket system," the military said.

No group immediately assumed responsibility for the attack.

It was the first rocket launched from the coastal Palestinian enclave over the past weeks, amidst Egypt-brokered efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian movement that runs Gaza.

Israel has been imposing a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over the enclave in 2007.

Hamas has intensified its campaign against the blockade with weekly rallies near the fence between Gaza and Israel. Over 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the rallies began in March 2018, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli authorities said that a Palestinian carried out a car-ramming attack near a West Bank bus stop, injuring two Israeli youths, before he was shot dead by an Israeli policeman.

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