Itongadol.- A rocket fired by Palestinians in Gaza slammed into a synagogue in the southern city of Ashdod on Friday, injuring a number of people.
According to police, the injuries resulted from flying shrapnel immediately after impact.
Earlier Friday morning, a mortar shell landed near a preschool in southern Israel\’s Eshkol Regional Council during continued barrages of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
In Beersheba two rockets were intercepted over the city while a third exploded in a residential parking lot, wounding one person, police reported. The man was rushed to the hospital in moderate condition from shrapnel wounds. Several vehicles in the vicinity sustained damages.
Another rocket landed in open areas of the greater Tel Aviv area.
Rocket alert sirens blared throughout the morning in the South with 26 rockets launched so far at Israel by mid-day from the Gaza Strip. The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted five rockets and 21 struck open areas in Israel.
Sirens went off in the Eshkol Regional Council, the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, Ashkelon and Beersheba.
Meanwhile, the IDF continued its campaign against terrorist elements in the Gaza Strip for a third day since a temporary cease-fire collapsed on Tuesday night with the resumption of rocket attacks from Gaza.
The air force struck 25 targets across Gaza on Friday. Since Tuesday, the IAF killed 23 terrorists in Gaza.
Palestinian medical sources reported that one person was killed during the overnight air force strikes in central Gaza\’s Deir al-Balah.
On Friday morning, Palestinian sources in Gaza reported that four additional people had been killed in Israeli air strikes in the enclave.
After the killing of three of its senior commanders by Israel on Thursday, Hamas vowed early Friday that it would be “strengthened” in its quest “to lift the siege on Gaza” and “liberate Jerusalem and Palestine from the neo-Nazi occupier who destroys houses and kills women and children.”
Despite the ongoing hostilities, Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas was expected to arrive Friday evening in Cairo and hold talks over the weekend with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and to discuss developments regarding the Gaza conflict.
Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq, however, denied reports that exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was also slated to visit the Egyptian capital.
On Thursday, Abbas and Mashaal met in Doha to discuss ways of resuming the indirect talks with Israel over a long-term cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. The meeting was held in the presence of the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
After fighting resumed, Israeli and Palestinian delegates left indirect negotiation in Cairo that were aiming to secure a long-term truce. Egypt said it would continue contact with both sides.