Rocket barrage damages southern homes
No injuries in latest Qassam attack; earlier, rockets fired from north Gaza land in open areas near Sapir College; IDF demolishes structures near Erez Industrial Zone used by Palestinians to fire mortars
Four more Qassam rockets were fired from the northern Gaza Strip Thursday afternoon. The rockets landed in the western Negev, including one Qassam that landed at a backyard in an area community and damages several structures. No injuries were reported in the latest barrage.
Five Qassams fired from northern Gaza Thursday morning landed in open fields in the western Negev, causing no injuries or damage.
Two of the rockets landed in open areas near Sapir College, within the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. Another two rockets landed in an open field inside Sderot and just outside the southern town.
Meanwhile, eight-year-old Osher Tuito, who sustained serious leg injuries during last weekend's Qassam attack on Sderot, has regained consciousness.
On Sunday surgeons at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon were forced to amputate part of the child's left leg and are currently trying to save his other.
Osher and his 19-year-old brother Rami were wounded when a Qassam fired by Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip landed near a residential building in Sderot Saturday evening.
The mother of the two boys as well as an additional brother suffered from shock in the incident, along with 13 other Sderot residents.
Also on Thursday, IDF forces conducted controlled-detonations of deserted structures near the Erez Industrial Zone that were used in the past by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza to launch mortars toward Israel. The blasts were heard as far as Ashkelon.
Detonation near Erez Industrial Zone (Photo: Avi Rokach)
The relative calm that prevailed in the past few days was breached Wednesday when two Qasams were fired toward Sderot, with one directly hitting a building in the western Negev town. Several people suffered from shock, but no injuries were reported.
One of the tenants told Ynet, "The building has three floors with a tile roof. The rocket caused damage inside the house, where a newlywed couple, married about three month ago, lives.
"By chance they arrived at their apartment a fem minutes after the rocket fell, and were amazed to see what happened inside. It's a miracle that nothing happened to them."
The second rocket is believed to have landed in the Palestinian Authority territories.
Meital Yasur Biet-Or contributed to the report
