3 rockets hit western Negev overnight

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3 rockets hit western Negev overnight

Qassams fired from Gaza explode within Ashkelon Coast, Shaar Hanegev regional council; no injures or damage reported. Palestinians say seven hurt in IDF strike following rocket fire
Shmulik Hadad

Three Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday night hit open areas in the western Negev. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Palestinian sources reported that Israel Air Force planes struck in the Strip in response to the rocket fire, injuring seven people, but the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Office denied the report.

The first rocket exploded at around 1 am within the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council. Two additional Qassams landed in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council later on.

According to reports in Gaza, the IDF struck south of the northern town of Beit Hanoun following the rocket fire. Medical sources said seven people were hurt, but the army denied any attack.

On Friday night, a rocket exploded in an open area within in the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no injuries and no damage was caused in the incident as well.

IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz held an evaluation of the situation on Friday following the rockets fired from Gaza over the past weeks.

The army believes Hamas is not preventing other organizations from launching the rockets, and may be trying to test the IDF's response policy.

In the past weeks the army's policy has been to strike targets in the Strip in response to each rocket fired at Israel, avoiding a large-scale operation for now.

Nonetheless, military sources noted that the IDF views Hamas as solely responsible for any terrorist incident and will not hesitate to use harsher measures against the organization if it failed to act against the rocket fire.

AFP contributed to this report

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