Palestinian missile hits building in S. Israel

A Grad missile fired from Gaza Strip hit a nine-storey building in Ashdod town, south Israel, Saturday evening, according to media reports reaching here from Israel.
The attack injured some residents of the apartment building slightly and led to a state of terrible panic in the area besides the material damage, Maariv daily reported without giving numbers of casualties.
Al-Quds Brigades - the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement - claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it came in retaliation for the deadly Israeli raid which killed five of its members earlier today.
The fighters of the Brigades fired two Grad missiles at Ashdod, some 42 km to the east of Gaza city, and two mortar shells on an Israeli military post at Karm Abu-Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing between Israel and south Gaza Strip near the borders with Egypt, according to a statement by the group.
Israel's Home Front Command warned residents of the areas located less than 40 km from Gaza against gathering in numbers bigger than 500 persons.
In a related development, the Palestinian Fatah Movement, led by President Mahmoud Abbas and ruling in the West Bank, blasted the Israel Air Force (IAF) for the air strike which killed five members of Al-Quds Brigades.
"The Israeli occupation forces committed a new barbaric crime against a constellation of the Brigades' sons and leaders in Rafah City," said a Fatah statement received by KUNA here.
"The operation is part of an Israel government design aiming to drag the region to a new cycle of violence," the movement added.
On its part, Abu-Ali Mustafa Battalions, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said it fired three Grad missiles into areas east Gaza Strip, in addition to a missile of 107 type which targeted Kfar settlement.
"Today's attacks are part of the retaliation for the crime committed by the occupation authorities against the heroes of Al-Quds Brigades," the Battalions said, highlighting the importance of Palestinian national unity as a crucial weapon against Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened a strong Israeli response to the rocket attacks from Gaza Strip.
In statements to Israel Radio he said the Jewish state seeks neither a confrontation with the Palestinians nor an escalation of the current situation but it "will not tolerate barrage after barrage without retaliating." IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz is scheduled to chair an operations forum by the General Staff to discuss the military escalation with the Palestinian factions later tonight.

Palestinian missile hits building in S. Israel