Special to WorldTribune.com
GAZA CITY — The Hamas regime, a week after its prisoner exchange,
has resumed rocket fire toward Israel.

Palestinian gunners fired at least three extended-range BM-21 Grad
rockets that reached the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. Officials said the
Chinese-origin rockets hit an open area outside the city on late Oct. 26 and
nobody was injured. The Grads were believed to have been smuggled from
Libya.

“The Hamas terror organization is solely responsible for any terrorist
activity emanating from the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military said on Oct.
27.

This marked the first rocket strike on Israel since it released 477
Palestinians in the first phase of a prisoner deal with Hamas on Oct. 18.
Israel
received Sgt. Gilad Shalit, abducted by Hamas and held captive in the Gaza
Strip since 2006.

The Israel Air Force responded to the rocket attack on Ashdod. The
military said the air force targeted three “terror activity sites in the
central Gaza Strip” as well as a weapons warehouse in the south.

“Direct hits were confirmed,” the military said.

Officials said the military has assessed that Hamas would allow an
escalation of missile and rocket fire into Israel until the next phase of
the release, scheduled in December. They said Hamas, expecting
support from neighboring Egypt, has raised its demands regarding the 550
prisoners slated for release.

“Perhaps this was good for the public,” former Israel Security Agency
director Yuval Diskin said. “But it is not good for the country.”

  Ashdod, BM-21 Grad rockets, Gaza Strip, Hamas targets Israel with Grad rockets smuggled from Libya, prisoner exchange, Sgt. Gilad Shalit