Gaza militants fire 3 rockets toward southern Israel: army

Source: Xinhua| 2019-08-26 03:24:07|Editor: yan
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JERUSALEM, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Militants from the Gaza Strip fired three rockets on Sunday night toward southern Israel, one of which exploded inside Israel , the Israeli army said.

"Three launches were identified from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory," the military said in a statement.

Two of them were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defense system and the other hit a road in the vicinity of the coastal Palestinian enclave.

The rockets triggered Code Red sirens in several communities in southern Israel, including the city of Sderot, where an outdoor summer music festival was taking place.

The festival was shut down because of the alerts which were sounded after one of the rockets was intercepted just above a live concert.

No injuries were reported, and no organization in Gaza has yet assumed responsibility for the attack.

The attack came amid heightened tensions in the region which has seen several Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli counter-attacks and airstrikes against Hamas sites in the last few weeks.

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. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the rallies began in March 2018, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

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