WarSclerotic

A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip hit a school in Beersheba on Sunday, exploding in its courtyard and damaging its outer walls. A second rocket slammed into the middle of a residential neighborhood in the city, damaging 15 homes and causing several residents to suffer shock.

“This is the first strike inside a city since the beginning of the current escalation,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

The latest rocket launches came amid an escalation in violence along the Gaza border that began after the IAF foiled a major terror attack, killing the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees, Zuhair Qaisi in a bombing on Friday.

Magen David Adom paramedics were on the scene, treating Beersheba residents for trauma and shock.

Police said that 29 total rockets had been fired into Israel on Sunday, bringing the total since Friday to more than 130.

On Saturday, Beersheba mayor Rubik Danilovitch cancelled all classes in the city, rendering the school building empty at the time of the attack.

Due to the decision, approximately 200,000 children stayed home on Sunday. The cancellation applied to Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheba, Netivot, Sderot, Kiryat Malachi, Gedera, Rahat, Yavne, Lakiya and the Gan Yavne Regional Council.

Schools in the western Negev within 7 km. of the Gaza Strip held class as usual, as they are equipped with the necessary reinforcement to protect against rockets, the Home Front Command said.

The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted at least eight rockets Sunday morning that were fired from Gaza towards the city of Ashdod and the surrounding areas.

One Grad-type rocket was intercepted at around 11:00 a.m., two more were intercepted shortly after 10:00 a.m, while a further two rockets were intercepted at around 7:00 a.m.

Two additional rockets were fired from Gaza and they exploded in southern Israel. One of the rockets exploded south of Ashkelon and the other in the Eshkol Regional Council area. The rockets landed in open territories, causing no casualties or damages.

The IDF continued to target terrorists in the Gaza Strip Sunday morning as Palestinians fired rockets at towns in southern Israel.

Medical sources in Gaza reported that an IAF strike killed two Palestinians, one a 12-year-old boy. The medics said the boy was killed by an air strike in the northern Gaza Strip, while the other Palestinian was killed in a separate strike in Gaza City.

Palestinian officials said that the death toll in the Gaza Strip now stands at 17, 16 of whom were armed terrorists.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Office said that IAF aircraft bombed underground launchers of rockets that have a range of over 40 kilometers.

Overnight Saturday, the IDF attacked a group of terrorists preparing to launch a projectile at Israeli territory, killing a 24-year-old male and injuring three others.

The violence started on Friday afternoon when Israel Air Force craft bombed a car in Gaza, killing Qaisi and another top terrorist in the organization.

The IDF said it decided to bomb Qaisi’s car due to intelligence that he was plotting a large terrorist attack along the border with Egypt, similar to the one the PRC carried out last August that killed eight Israelis. The IDF decided on Friday to close Route 12 – which runs along the border with Egypt – due to fears that the planned attack might still take place.

While most of the rockets fired from Gaza were shortrange Kassams, some were long-range Grad-model Katyushas that succeeded in hitting 40 km. from the Gaza Strip. The short-range rockets were mostly fired by the PRC and the long-range rockets by Islamic Jihad.

The flareup in Gaza is the worst since October. The escalating violence drew appeals for a cease-fire from the European Union, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and Egypt. IDF sources said that Israel was in constant touch with Egypt.

In the Gaza Strip, thousands attended funerals for the dead gunmen on Saturday, listening to speeches calling for revenge.

Gaza officials said Israeli troops opened fire on mourners at a burial for an Islamic Jihad gunman attended by hundreds at a cemetery near the Israeli frontier fence, wounding four. The IDF did not have an immediate comment on the incident.

Yaakov Katz, Ben Hartman and Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.