A long-range Grad rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip landed in the city of Ashkelon, Israeli police said on Monday. No-one was injured in the attack, the first involving a Grad rocket since the separate ceasefires announced by Israel and Hamas on 18 January. Ashkelon's mayor Benny Vaknin told Israel Radio that the Grad rocket "struck the heart of a residential neighborhood. Luckily, it landed in an open area." Other rockets and mortars have been launched from Gaza and Israel has retaliated against targets in Gaza.
The spokesman for Israeli prime minister Olmert, Mark Regev, accused Hamas of trying to undermine the ceasefire. Ashkelon, a city of 122,000 inhabitants, is 7 miles from northern Gaza. The city is out of range of the usual rockets and mortars fired by Palestinian militants. However, factory-produced Grad rockets, which are smuggled into Gaza from neighboring Egypt, have a longer reach.