A four-year-old child was lightly wounded Monday when shrapnel from a Kassam rocket fired by Palestinian Authority terrorists in Gaza penetrated the family car. In other attacks, a rocket nearly struck a southern council head and PA terrorists in Samaria firebombed a Jewish motorist.

The injured child was hit in the shoulder by shrapnel from a rocket impact next to his home in a kibbutz in the

The rocket landed exactly as the family was returning from a trip to the north of Israel.

Sha'ar HaNegev region. A Magen David Adom ambulance team arrived on the scene, treated the boy and took him to Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital for further treatment.

The boy's father, Ilan Arad, said the rocket landed exactly as the family was returning from a trip to the north of Israel. Because they were sitting in a car in the open, the family members did not have time to run for shelter upon hearing the Color Red rocket alert. Shrapnel from the rocket smashed through the closed car window and hit the child. Nearby homes suffered shrapnel and blast damage as a result of the PA rocket attack on the kibbutz.

'Out of Habit, You Duck'

At least nine rockets and mortars fired by Gaza terrorists struck southern Israel on Monday. Two rockets landed south of Ashkelon, two landed in the Sha'ar HaNegev region, and four mortar shells and one rocket landed in the Sdot Negev and Eshkol regional council areas. No one was injured and no damage was reported in these attacks.

In one of the early Monday morning barrages, an enemy rocket exploded near Alon Shuster, the head of the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council, as he was taking a morning jog. He was not injured.

"You hear 'Color Red' and out of habit you duck," Shuster said. "As usual, I wait to hear the rocket impact, and then I hear the whistle over me, already moving away. At that moment, it was clear that it would not actually hit me.... Then I hear the boom, somewhere in a field next to a group of laborers who were working there."

Monday's rocket attacks followed a holiday barrage of at least 13 Kassams and an equal number of mortar shells.

In what appears to have been an error on the part of PA terrorists, a rocket aimed for the western Negev on Monday night fell short and landed on a house in Gaza's Beit Hanoun. Three residents of the building were wounded in the attack, one seriously.

Monday's rocket attacks followed a holiday barrage of at least 13 Kassams and an equal number of mortar shells.

Motorists Attacked in Pre- and Post-1967 Israel

In another type of enemy attack, this time in Samaria, PA terrorists firebombed a vehicle passing by the village of Azoun, on the road between Kalkilya and the communities of Karnei Shomron, Ginot Shomron and Kedumim. Kalkilya is located adjacent to Kfar Saba.

No one was injured in the attack, but the vehicle sustained damage. The Azoun area has been a constant source of rock throwing and firebombing attacks on Jewish motorists, who use the road to commute to and from work and shopping trips in the metropolitan Tel Aviv area.

The driver of the targeted vehicle, Boaz Shabo, lost his wife and three of his children in a terrorist attack in the Samaria town of Itamar in 2002. After the firebombing, Shabo told Arutz Sheva, "Two Arab youths about 16 years old were standing near the safety barrier. They were holding two firebombs. Suddenly, one of them threw a firebomb at the front windshield of my car. The bottle containing the flammable liquid went through the windshield and set the car on fire."

Shabo said that he was with a hitchhiker at the time of the attack. "If not for the hitchhiker," he said, "I would have chased after them and caught them."

Inside pre-1967 Israel, a 14-year-old from the Galilee village of Majd al-Krum was arrested on Monday after police caught him hurling rocks at a bus on Highway 85. A 46-year-old resident of the village who attempted to prevent the arrest was arrested as well.

The two detainees were taken to a nearby police station for questioning. Police have noted a sharp increase in the number of rock attacks in Israel’s north in recent months. The perpetrators arrested so far have been Arab teens, and police suspect the attacks may be motivated by anti-Israel sentiment.