Palestinian militants fire barrage of rockets into Israel

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired at least 130 rockets into southern Israel, the Israeli military said. No immediate casualties were reported. 

The military said its “Iron Dome” defence system intercepted at least three rockets, while the others fell in open areas.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said one rocket exploded near a gas station and another near a public library.

Police raised the level of alert in the south, saying the rockets struck along the length of Israel’s border with Gaza.

One hit near a public library in the town of Sderot, and another near a petrol station. 

With heavy rain hampering the Israeli air force’s ability to conduct air strikes, the military said it had hit “two terror locations” in northern and southern Gaza with artillery fire, but there were no Palestinian reports of injuries, according to AFP.

“We have attacked two sites with artillery, with our tanks on the border with Gaza,” Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, the chief military spokesman, told journalists

The attack began shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the parliament and prompted a stern warning from the Israeli leader who pledged to act “with great force” against those seeking to harm Israel, a statement from his office said. 

 Netanyahu immediately responded to the rocket attack by vowing not to back down.

He said: “We will continue to thwart (rocket attacks) and hit those that want to harm us, and we will act against them with great force,” 

“Last year, the number of rockets fired from Gaza was the lowest in a decade but that is not enough. We will continue to act to ensure the security of the citizens of Israel in the south and in the entire country” He said.

“This is the biggest attack on Israel since the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense,” the military said on Twitter, referring to the 2012 confrontation that claimed the lives of 177 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and six Israelis.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel would have no choice but to reoccupy Gaza, from which it withdrew all troops and settlers in summer 2005. 

“Following an attack like this -- a barrage of more than 50 rockets -- there is no alternative to a full reoccupation of the entire Gaza Strip,” he told private Channel 2 television. 

Palestinian Jihad's armed wing the Al-Quds Brigades issued a statement claiming responsibility for firing "130 rockets" at Israel. 

It said its bombardment was in response to Israel's air strike in Gaza in which three of its members were killed. Islamic Jihad said at the time that its men had died confronting Israeli troops who had entered the Gaza Strip.

Another Gaza militant group, the Popular Resistance Committees, said they also fired several rockets.

Attacks have declined since the eight-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in November 2012, but rocket fire still persists and Israeli aircraft periodically strike at militants.

Israel pulled its soldiers and settlers out of the territory, now run by Hamas Islamists, in 2005. But it maintains a naval and air blockade and severely restricts the overland movement of people and goods across the volatile border.

Hamas warned Israel against escalating the confrontation.

“We hold the occupation responsible, we warn of the consequences of any escalation and we reiterate that resistance is the right of the Palestinian people to defend itself,” said Ihab al-Ghassin, a spokesman for the Islamist movement Hamas, which governs Gaza.

Wednesday’s barrage set off air-raid sirens in border communities of southern Israel.