Shrapnel (illustrative)
Shrapnel (illustrative)Flash90

A rocket struck an empty kindergarten playground in Ashdod Tuesday afternoon, causing damage but leaving no injuries. 

This is the fourth strike on a school in six weeks, and the third on a playground in seven days. 

The previous rocket strike barely missed a packed kindergarten in Ashkelon; less than 24 hours earlier, a rocket wounded a 33 year-old man as he heroically was protecting children from the missile with his own body. 

Video footage from the scene shows some of the damage to the playground caused by the rocket - which chillingly includes a children's slide peppered with shrapnel holes. 

The near-miss follows Education Minister Shai Piron's assertion last week that the school year would continue as usual, despite the ongoing rocket fire on civilians. 

“The school year will begin as planned. We are prepared for any security-related occurrences,” the MK explained. “During the first two weeks of the school year, the education system will not be occupied with regular teaching, but rather with activities to dissipate the tensions and with discussions surrounding the events of the summer, including the arousal and demonstration of racism and incitement.”

The Ashklelon and Be'er Sheva Regional Councils have all pledged to ignore Piron's statement, according to Walla! News, citing security concerns and potential psychological toll on the area's children.  

Gaza terrorists have continued to pound civilian areas in southern Israel with rocket fire Tuesday. Earlier in the day 50 people were hospitalized when a rocked slammed into a house in the southern city of Ashkelon.

Terrorists have fired more than 70 rockets since midnight, as Monday came and went with no official word yet on a potential truce which some sources have suggested could be imminent.