A rocket was fired from Gaza hit a home in central Israel early Monday morning, setting the building on fire and injuring civilians inside, the Israeli military and police reported.
The Israeli military said Gaza’s Hamas militant group fired the rocket. The rocket landed in the village of Mishmeret which is about 25 kilometers north of Tel Aviv, no rocket has travelled this deep into Israel since 2014.
About seven people were wounded in the incident, which included a woman in her sixties who suffered blast injuries, such as minor burns and shrapnel wounds. A 12 year old girl and two infants also got hit by shrapnel wounds, Israel’s emergency response team revealed in a statement.
As per the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the rocket that had a range of 75 miles and was manufactured inside Gaza by Hamas. Israel still did not comment whether the rocket was fired intentionally or unintentionally. However, no one claimed responsibility for this rocket.
Following the bombing, Israel closed the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings between Israel and Gaza. It has also reduced the size of the fishing area in which Gazan fishermen are permitted to sail.
Monday’s incident comes less than two weeks after two rockets were fired at Tel Aviv, the first time rockets had been fired at central Israel in almost five years. Local media reported that the assessment of Israel concluded stating the rockets caused no damage, and were accidentally launched by low-level Hamas operatives.
Israel responded to the Tel Aviv attack by conducting two air strikes on about 100 militant targets in Gaza, including an underground rocket factory, a training facility and a logistics headquarters.
The firing of this latest rocket on Monday, occurred as the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s was visiting the United States. Netanyahu announced that he would cut his trip short due to the incident.