Grad hits Netivot (archive)
Grad hits Netivot (archive)Israel news photo: Flash 90

Be'er Sheva children are home from school today (Sunday) due to ongoing rocket fire launched – again - from Gaza.

The Popular Resistance Committees terrorist group, which is linked to the region's ruling Hamas terrorist organization, has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The group’s Nasser Saladin Brigades said it had fired the rockets and issued a statement saying the attacks were made in response to “Zionist aggression.”

The latest spate of attacks began in the wee hours of Sunday with a Grad Katyusha missile fired at Be'er Sheva, the Negev's largest city, shortly after 3:00 a.m. The missile exploded in an open area on the outskirts of the city, home to some 200,000 -- Israel's seventh largest population center.

By 7:45 a.m., two more missiles had exploded in and around the city.

One landed in an open area in the city itself. A second missile exploded in the Bnei Shimon council district, home to the large Bedouin town of Hura as well as several Jewish suburbs.

No one was physically injured, although a number of people suffered anxiety, and those affected by post-traumatic stress disorder had symptoms triggered by the attacks.

The attacks followed an air strike by the Israel Air Force which came in response to the launching of two Qassam rockets fired from Gaza late Saturday night. The two rockets exploded in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council district.There were, miraculously, no physical injuries and no damage to property.

Israeli fighter pilots in response struck a terrorist cell who were making final preparations to launch another rocket into southern Israel, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced. Direct hits at the target were scored, and secondary explosions were heard, the IDF said.

Sources in the Palestinian Authority told AFP the strike took place in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis and killed a member of the Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing of the region's ruling Hamas terrorist organization.