Palestinian Authority terrorists launched six rockets at Jewish communities in the western Negev on Thursday. One rocket slammed into a home in the city of

At least a dozen people suffered the effects of shock.

Sderot, moderately wounding a woman. Israel Air Force jets struck back at enemy forces in Gaza.

In addition to the injured woman, at least a dozen people suffered the effects of shock as a result of the late afternoon rocket attack. Most were treated at the site of the attack, which was near a local synagogue. The rocket caused extensive damage and almost hit nearby gas canisters. Israel Electric Company workers were dispatched to repair power lines that were exposed as a result of the bombing.

PA rockets fired from Gaza damaged several other buildings and cars during the day.



In an IDF airstrike on Thursday night, three terrorists involved in rocket attacks on Jewish communities were killed. The successful strike took place in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City. Several other terrorists were reportedly wounded critically as well.



Knesset Member Gideon Saar (Likud) responded to the terror attacks by calling on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to stop his talks with the Palestinian Authority. Before working on a final agreement, Saar said, Olmert should provide basic security to residents of Sderot and other western Negev towns.

Gaza Explosion Kills 3

On Friday morning, three Arabs were killed and close to 20 were injured in an explosion during a funeral in Gaza.  The incident was apparently the result of the accidental detonation of a grenade held by a funeral participant.

In the past week, PA terror cells fired more than 20 mortar shells and approximately 37 Kassam rockets at the communities of the western Negev and at IDF forces. Al-Quds Brigades terrorists claimed that they fired 14 rockets at Sderot on Wednesday and Thursday, calling it "the start of a series" in reaction to IDF counter-terrorism activities.



"I have no intention of giving in to scum like [Hamas head] Ismail Haniyeh." -- Ashkelon Mayor Mehatzri

IDF Retaliation

In the past week, IDF forces operating in the Gaza region targeted at least 20 enemy gunmen, ten of whom were killed. On Wednesday, IDF forces discovered and destroyed three Kassam rocket launchers in Gaza.

Ashkelon Mayor Roni Mehatzri, whose city has been increasingly targeted by PA terrorists, said Thursday that he would not step down despite the terrorist rocket attacks on his city. Gaza terrorists had called on Mehatzri to quit just as Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal did, briefly, on Wednesday. Moyal said on live radio that he could no longer serve as mayor due to the government's failure to protect residents of Sderot from attack. On Thursday night, Moyal later rescinded his very public resignation, explaining that Defense Minister Ehud Barak had asked him to stay on.

"I have no intention of giving in to scum like [Hamas head] Ismail Haniyeh," Mehatzri said. "I call on the Prime Minister to silence Haniyeh and his people, and not in the figurative sense of the word."