Israeli aircraft hit Gaza; Palestinian rockets hit Israel

Tel Aviv - Israeli aircraft struck at Palestinian militias in the Gaza Strip, and militants fired four missiles and seven mortars at Israel Wednesday morning, as tensions between the two sides continued to escalate.

A statement from the Israeli military said aircraft targeted militants at the location where a Grad-type rocket was fired late Tuesday at the Israeli port city of Ashdod. “A hit was confirmed,” the statement said. Two of the missiles fired from the Strip targeted the Israeli city of Beersheba, which lies about 45 kilometres east of the salient and has a population of around 200,000 people. a Grad missile landed close to dawn.

One person was slightly wounded by fragment from the rocket, the military said. Hours later, a second missile struck Beersheba, but landed in an open field and caused no injuries.

The latest attacks follow on from Tuesday afternoon, when an Israeli mortar shell, fired at an area suspected to have been a rocketlaunching site, killed five Palestinian youths who were playing soccer, and wounded four others.

The escalation between the sides has been steadily creeping upward since the weekend, when militants fired at least 50 rockets and mortars at southern Israel.