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Israeli police examine the remains of a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009. A long-range Grad rocket from Gaza landed in the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Tuesday as delegates of the militant Islamic Hamas organization met in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials striving to mediate a long-term truce with Israel.(AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
JERUSALEM-A medium-range rocket from Gaza exploded in the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Tuesday, and witnesses said Israeli warplanes responded before nighftall with airstrikes on the tunnels used by the territory's militant Hamas rulers to smuggle in weapons and supplies.The latest fighting came as Hamas delegates met in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials trying to mediate a long-term truce with Israel.The Grad rocket from Gaza was the first of its kind to be fired at the city of 122,000 since informal cease-fires were declared separately by Israel and Hamas two weeks ago at the end of Israel's bruising three-week-long offensive. The rocket exploded in an open space in the middle of the city and no one was injured, police said.The Grad is distinctive from the home-made projectiles more commonly used by Hamas and smaller militant groups, as it is manufactured abroad, has greater reach and carries a more powerful payload.Defense Minister Ehud Barak pledged that if Hamas held its fire Israel would do likewise, while violence would be met by violence."If there is quiet then there will be quiet," he told reporters during a tour of northern Israel's border with Lebanon. "If it is necessary to deal another, even stronger, blow then at the right time and in the right way an additional and stronger blow will be dealt."Residents near the Gaza-Egypt border said they received telephone messages from the Israeli military ahead of the airstrikes warning them to leave their homes ahead the airstrike. Such warnings are becoming routine.The recorded messages, in Arabic, said people who work in tunnels, live near them or are "giving logistical help to terrorists" should evacuate the area immediately, residents said.Israel launched its Gaza offensive on Dec. 27 to halt near-daily rocket fire from Gaza at Israel targets. Sporadic rocket and mortar fire from Gaza has continued, however, prompting tough warnings of reprisal from Israeli leaders.More than a dozen rockets and mortar shells slammed into Israel on Sunday. The following day Israel fired a missile at a car in the town of Rafah, killing a Palestinian militant, and bombed the nearby Gaza-Egypt border, seeking to destroy tunnels that Hamas uses to smuggle in weapons and supplies.Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni pledged to keep hitting Hamas as long rockets continue to be fired at Israel, and she ruled out negotiations with Hamas."Terror must be fought with force and lots of force. Therefore we will strike Hamas," she said at a security conference Monday. "If by ending the operation we have yet to achieve deterrence, we will continue until they get the message."
By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer
By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer
As in the days of Noah....
