- Title: MIDDLE EAST: Kindergarten near-miss highlights Gaza risks
- Date: 22nd December 2010
- Summary: RAFAH, GAZA (DECEMBER 21, 2010) (REUTERS) ===DAY SHOTS=== VARIOUS OF HAMAS GUARD POST SAID TO HAVE BEEN HIT BY ISRAELI AIR STRIKE ===NIGHT SHOTS=== AMBULANCE DRIVING EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL INJURED MASKED MAN BEING WHEELED ON STRETCHER IN HOSPITAL CORRIDOR MORE OF PEOPLE IN HOSPITAL
- Embargoed: 6th January 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Gaza, Israel
- City:
- Country: Gaza Israel
- Reuters ID: LVA20DMGSNF36MOV8PR483HQQOK4
- Story Text: A rocket fired from Gaza exploded near an Israeli kindergarten on Tuesday (December 21) as cross-border violence surged in the approach to the two-year anniversary of Israel's war in the Hamas Islamist-run enclave.
No one was hurt at the pre-school but a teenage girl in a nearby building was cut by flying glass while taking a shower.
The Palestinian-made Qassam rocket corkscrewed into the kibbutz, exploding on a shady path about 10 metres (30 feet) from the kindergarten and two adjacent nursery buildings for under-three year olds.
Earlier, Israel aircraft struck at targets in Gaza, wounding two Hamas militants and blowing up tunnels under the border with Egypt used to circumvent Israel's military blockade.
An Israeli military spokesman said at least 14 rockets had been fired from Gaza in the past two days. An Israeli air strike in Gaza on Saturday killed five militants from a rocket squad, in the heaviest toll in sporadic clashes this year.
Responsibility for Tuesday's rocket attack was claimed by a group calling itself the Army of Islam, which has the same "global jihad" ideology as the al Qaeda movement. It said it was responding "to the massacres committed by the Zionist enemy".
Hamas leaders have tried to curb rocket fire at Israel from Gaza, but smaller groups continue to carry out attacks.
Israeli forces killed some 1,400 Palestinians in a three-week offensive on Gaza which began on December 27, 2008, after an unofficial truce collapsed under the pressure of sustained Hamas rocket fire and Israeli counter-attacks.
The Israeli army says that this year more than 200 missiles, rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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