Between Friday evening and early Saturday morning, four Kassam rockets slammed into the western Negev, with one hitting a residential area of Sderot and causing damage to buildings and cars. Four people were treated for shock in the incident. Another rocket struck an electrical substation in Kibbutz Nir Am, plunging parts of the Kibbutz into darkness for several hours.



Since the beginning of the ceasefire several weeks ago, in which terror groups committed to halting the firing of Kassam rockets at Israel in exchange for an IDF withdrawal from Gaza, 25 Kassams have been fired, according to IDF figures. Eighteen of them have hit targets in pre-1967 Israel, while the rest fell short of their marks and landed inside the Gaza Strip.



In a speech on Saturday, PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas called for an end to rocket attacks on Israelis, "because it leads to the cessation of investments in the Gaza Strip." Abbas called the Saturday press conference in Ramallah to announce new elections for the PA presidency and legislature. Hamas spokesmen called the move a "coup."



A lead article on the website of the Islamic Jihad terror group said that the best way to reduce the tension between Hamas and Fatah over new elections was to fire rockets at Israel.



The tension between the two factions over power and funding in the PA, which has spilled into violent street clashes and assassination attempts, "proves that the hudna [temporary ceasefire with Israel] does not serve Palestinian interests," the website said. "Now more than ever, our rockets should be aimed at the Zionist entity in order to show that there will be no hudna. Thus, there will be no disagreement over who should rule [the Palestinian Authority]."