Business as usual for Hamas and friends. “Palestinian terrorists bombard Ashkelon with Grad rockets,” from the Jerusalem Post, with additional reporting from the Associated Press, December 24:
Palestinian terrorists on Wednesday morning fired over 60 rockets and mortar shells from the Gaza Strip at Ashkelon and the western Negev, prompting Israel to hold up a shipment of aid scheduled to pass through to the Strip later Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Security Cabinet scrambled Defense Minister Ehud Barak to a special discussion on the massive rocket fire against western Negev Israeli communities.
A number of Grad-type rockets were fired at Ashkelon throughout the morning. One of them struck outside the home of Benny Gueta, sending several people into shock….
More information: “Gaza militants launch rocket attacks in retaliation,” from CNN, December 24:
[…] Izzedine Al Qassam, the military wing of Hamas, announced in a statement on its Web site it had fired four rockets in revenge for what it called the “assassination” of five of its members by the Israeli military.
One of the rockets landed in an industrial section of Ashkelon, north of Gaza, while other rockets struck a house in Kibbutz Kfar Aza and landed near the town of Netivot. […]
Sources with the military wing of Hamas said the group fired a number of mortars into Israel from an area east of Khan Younes in southern Gaza. The sources also said two members of the military wing were killed Wednesday morning during a “work” related accident, while on a Jihad mission….