JERUSALEM
Rocket warning sirens went off in different parts of Israel early on Thursday, while a southern Israel home was hit by a rocket that was fired from the Gaza Strip, Israeli sources said.
Israeli police sources added that the warning sirens were sounded in different parts of southern Israel, including Ashkelon, Ashdod and Israeli settlements around the Gaza Strip.
Israeli military sources, meanwhile, expected Gaza's Palestinian factions to keep launching rocket attacks against their country.
Israel has been pounding the Gaza Strip since July 7 with fierce aerial, naval and ground bombardments with the ostensible aim of halting rocket fire from the strip, leaving 1363 dead and 7680 others injured so far.
The vast majority of the dead and injured victims are civilians: children, women and elderly people.
Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, have continued to fire rocket at Israeli cities in response to relentless Israeli bombardments.
According to official Israeli figures, 53 Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed since the hostilities began.
Israel's military operation, dubbed operation "Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populate Gaza Strip – which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.
In 2008/9, over 1500 Palestinians were killed in Israel's three-week-long operation "Cast Lead."
By Alaa Rimawi
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
