A Hamas terrorist rocket hit a school in Ashkelon Tuesday afternoon, the ninth time its missiles have hit educational facilities since the beginning of the war.
The explosion caused light damage to an adjacent high school, where students were learning in a fortified room. They hid under their desks with their hands over their heads when the warning siren sounded, and no one was injured.
Precautionary measures of closing most schools and assembling high school classes in bomb shelters have prevented several would-be disasters.
Earlier this week, a rocket hit the courtyard of an empty Chabad school in Be'er Sheva, where another empty high school sustained a direct hit in the beginning of the war.
The continuing offensive of the Cast Lead counterterrorist operation has brought Israeli tanks into Gaza City neighborhoods, and aerial attacks have wiped out more than 50 percent of its rocket arsenal.
Hamas, whose de facto prime minister Ismail Haniyeh said Monday night is winning the war, is trying to inflict as many casualties as possible and win concessions toward a ceasefire.
Its remaining stockpile of thousands of rockets, possibly including missiles that can penetrate the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, is capable of inflicting a heavy blow against Israel. However, the number of rockets has decreased dramatically, from 80 on the third dayof the war to 20 on Monday.
As of early Tuesday evening, 19 rockets exploded on southern Israel, including missiles fired during Israel's daily one-sided truce to enable humanitarian aider to flow into Gaza. Three mortars landed in open areas near Sderot.
Almost all of the rockets landed in open areas and caused no injuries or damage.