Kassam rocket
Kassam rocketIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Terrorists launched a Kassam rocket from the Gaza region towards southern Israel on Tuesday evening.

The rocket landed in the Eshkol Regional Council and rocket exploded in an open area. No injuries or damages were reported.

The rocket was fired half an hour after a mortar shell was fired by terrorists from the Gaza region at the Eshkol region. The mortar exploded in one of the communities in the region. No injuries or damages were reported.

The two attacks come after a relatively quiet time period during which almost no rockets were fired towards Israel from Gaza.

Last week, however, a rocket was fired from Gaza in to Israel. This rocket, too, exploded within the Eshkol local authority and there were no injuries or damage was reported.

The rocket had ended two months of “a lull unlike anything we have experienced in the past few years,” according to a very senior security source in the Gaza Belt sector.

Tuesday’s attacks came after on Monday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak had promised to provide the entire State of Israel with the Iron Dome system’s anti-missile coverage, which he said could be fully deployed in 2.5 years.

“Lately we saw the accomplishments of Iron Dome in intercepting rockets from Gaza – an exceptional achievement of Israel’s defense industries,” Barak said after the inauguration in Paris of Israel’s booth at the Le Bourget Air Show.

“I intend to initiate a national emergency program that will lead to the deployment of Iron Dome and Magic Wand over the entire state,” he announced. “Iron Dome can be completed and deployed across the entire country in about two and a half years, and Magic Wand in five years at the most.”

The Iron Dome system is intended for interception of short-range missiles, such as the Kassam, and has been proven successful in shooting down terrorist 'Grad' Katyusha missiles fired from Gaza this year. Magic Wand is intended against medium range missiles such as those Hizbullah might fire at central Israel from Lebanon.