Rockets pelt Israeli communities on Gaza border; Tel Aviv siren deemed false alarm
Quiet night in Israel broken by rocket sirens in Ashkelon, Eshkol despite reports that Islamic Jihad, Hamas officials close to reaching cease-fire.
By JPOST.COM STAFFA rocket is launched from the northern Gaza Strip towards Israel(photo credit: REUTERS)
Rocket and mortar fire continued to pound the Israeli communities on the Gaza frontier Monday morning despite Palestinian reports of progress in efforts to attain a truce to halt nearly two months of fighting.A number of projectiles landed in the Eshkol Regional Council, which Gaza militants have targeted regularly throughout Operation Protective Edge. There were no reports of injuries in Monday morning's attacks on the Eshkol area. A chicken coop sustained some damage.Sirens also sent people running for shelter every few minutes in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council and Sderot. A number of rockets were fired at the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council as well.The IDF said rocket sirens which sounded about 8:30 a.m. on Monday in Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Ra'anana and Ramat HaSharon were false alarms.Earlier on Monday morning, sirens went off in Ashkelon and Ashdod, breaking a 5-hour lull in the fighting.The IDF announced that it had attacked 35 terror sites overnight and killed two militants responsible for rocket fire on Israel. Palestinian media reported that three people had been killed in overnight IDF strikes bringing the death toll in Gaza to 2,120 during Operation Protective Edge.In a separate development, media reports earlier on Monday had indicated that progress had been made in cease-fire talks in Cairo between the Palestinians and Israel.Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported that developments had been made that could clear the path for an agreement to be signed as soon as Monday morning.According to Ma'an, Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad official, said "a cease-fire is supposed to be signed within a few hours."
The deputy leader of the Islamic Jihad, Ziad Nakhleh, told Lebanese Al Mayadeen TV that "we have decided a zero-hour, and it will happen within a few hours."Hamas official Osama Hamdan said "there has been positive and fast progress in cease-fire talks in the past few hours."
