A home made Qassam shell, apparently fired from Beit Hanun area of the northern Gaza Strip, landed in a cemetery in the Israeli Negev town of Sderot Thursday evening, causing no damage or injuries.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz described the incident as ‘severe’, adding that Israel will not tolerate ‘Qassams’
Even as this is the first time a shell is fired from inside the Gaza Strip at northern Israel since January, Mofaz pointed finger at ‘the failure of the Palestinian Authority’
‘There is an intolerable gap between what the Palestinian Authority is saying and the actual steps it is taking on the ground to prevent terror,’ Mofaz said.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, declared responsibility for the attack.
An unnamed Brigade’ activists told the Israeli electronic news site Arab Ynet by phone that his group launched the attack in response to continued Israeli violations of the cease-fire agreement.
Yet, army sources believe that a local group, the popular resistance committees, who refused to abide by the truce agreement, stands behind the attack.
Army also believes that the same group was responsible for the shooting incident in the Morag settlement on Tuesday, in which an Israeli citizen was seriously wounded.
The army sources said the PA is acting to prevent such incidents, but their failure to arrest militants does not enable them to stop the attacks altogether.
