Gaza militants launch rocket at Israel

PanARMENIAN.Net - Militants in the Gaza Strip launched a rocket at Israel on Tuesday, June 23 which landed in open ground near a community close to the Palestinian enclave and Israel hit back at the launching site, the Israeli army said, according to Reuters.

There were no injuries or damage after the rocket fell near the community of Yad Mordechai, Israeli police and the military said. Residents in the northern Gaza Strip said nobody was hurt by Israel's retaliatory strike near Beit Hanoun.

An army statement said the rocket launcher was hit.

Rocket launchings have become an almost weekly occurrence from the Hamas-controlled coastal strip recently but no militant group took immediate responsibility for Tuesday's attack.

A group that sympathizes with al Qaeda, who have defied Hamas, have been blamed for other recent strikes, none of which caused injuries or damage.

The Israel-Gaza border area had largely been quiet since last year's July-August war, when Palestinian militants launched thousands of rockets and mortar bombs into Israel and Israeli shelling and air strikes battered the enclave.

More than 2,100 Palestinians died, mainly civilians, while 67 soldiers and six civilians were killed on the Israeli side.