Gaza rocket hits Israeli town: army

A rocket fired from the Palestinian Gaza Strip enclave hit the southern Israel town of Sderot on Friday night (Dec 8), the Israeli army said, but refused to comment on possible casualties.

Public radio said the rocket failed to explode and caused no injuries.

Israel’s national ambulance service said its paramedics treated a woman in her 50s for shock.

It was Friday’s third rocket attack and the second night of rocket fire since US President Donald Trump’s statement on Wednesday recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

In Gaza, two Palestinians were killed in border clashes sparked by the deeply controversial Trump declaration.

A third man was in “very critical” condition after being shot in the head during the clashes, the Gaza health ministry said.

It said that 14 people were injured in Israeli air strikes launched in response to rocket fire.

The Israeli army said around 4,500 Palestinians “participated in violent riots at six locations along the border with the Gaza Strip”.

It said troops shot at “dozens” of people along the Gaza border, but did not specify how many were wounded.

The Israeli military said earlier that its Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave.

It said it later detected a second missile launch, but had so far not found evidence that it had fallen inside Israeli territory.

The military retaliated with air strikes on what it said were two targets.

“In response to the projectiles fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip earlier today, Israel Air Force aircraft targeted a Hamas training compound and an ammunition warehouse in the Gaza Strip,” an English-language statement said.

Gaza security officials said that both targets were in the vicinity of Beit Lahiya, in the northern part of the strip, close to the border with Israel.

A previously unknown Salafist group calling itself the Salahedin Brigades claimed responsibility for the first attempted attack.

But the Israeli army said it held Hamas responsible for all attacks originating from the territory under its control.

On Thursday, Israel responded with air strikes and tank fire into Gaza after what a military statement described as “a projectile” was fired into southern Israel.

Palestinian security officials in the enclave said the sites hit were two Hamas posts.

The Israeli military said the targets were “two terror posts”, without identifying them.