Israel vows tough response after Palestinian rocket hits house

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Palestinian rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a house in southern Israel on Monday, Nov 12, causing damage but no injuries, and Israeli officials quickly warned of a tough response to the latest surge in violence, according to Reuters.

The rocket hit the town of Netivot, ending a brief overnight lull to three days of fighting, which has left six Palestinians dead, including four civilians, and 40 wounded. Eight Israelis have also been wounded in the cross-border attacks.

"We have a full box of tools ... that we have not yet used," Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon told Army Radio. "We will need to toughen our response until Hamas says 'enough' and ends the fire."

The Islamist movement Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, governs in Gaza.

However many of the missiles fired out of the coastal enclave are launched by other groups, with Monday's strike claimed by the radical Salafi organization, the Shoura Council of the Mujahedeen.

On Saturday, a Palestinian missile strike wounded four Israeli troops on a jeep patrol along the Gaza boundary, triggering army shelling in which the four Palestinian civilians died.

In turn dozens of mortars and rockets were launched at Israel and the military carried out a series of air strikes throughout the Gaza Strip. Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system knocked down a number of longer-range rockets.