Israel allowed foreign journalists and international aid workers to enter Gaza Thursday morning for the first time since declaring the region a closed military zone approximately a month ago.
Within a couple of hours, Palestinian Authority terrorists in Gaza launched two attacks on the Gaza Belt. The first, in the form of a mortar shell, exploded on a nearby kibbutz in the western Negev. In the second attack, terrorists in southern Gaza aimed a Kassam rocket at an area close to the Kerem Shalom Crossing. There were no reports of injuries or damage either attack.
Foreign news outlets have complained bitterly about the ban on entering Gaza, and for weeks Israel has been pressured by foreign governments and major news organizations to reopen the region to the media.
The crossings into Gaza have been opened and closed sporadically depending on the security situation. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the crossings closed in response to intensified attacks and specific terror alerts of threats on Gaza Belt communities.
Nonetheless, Palestinian Authority Arab residents of Gaza have continued to cross into pre-1967 Israel through the Erez Crossing as usual to receive medical treatment.
Gaza terrorists have launched Kassam rocket attacks and fire mortar shells at Jewish communities in the western Negev almost daily over the past month.
On Wednesday, at least eight mortar shells and Kassam rockets were fired at southern Israel from northern Gaza, but no one was injured. Other than a power line that was hit by a mortar, no damage was reported.