BICOM

Rockets were fired at southern Israel this morning from the Gaza Strip for the first time since April, triggering warning sirens in the city of Ashkelon and surrounding areas.

Initial reports suggest that three rockets were fired soon before 6am local time. One is reported to have landed in an open area in the Hof Ashkelon region, while it is unclear where the other two landed. No injuries or damage were reported. The Times of Israel note that following the rocket fire, the Israel Defence Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories ordered the closure to commercial traffic of the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Gaza Strip.

This morning’s attack was the first instance of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip to reach Israel since the end of April. Israel’s Shin Bet security agency recently reported a decline in rocket fire towards Israeli communities during May. As a result, Israel had enlarged the fishing zone off the Gaza coast to six nautical miles.

Earlier this week, Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, underscored its’ violent intentions towards Israel as Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk released a statement calling on Hezbollah ”to take its forces out of Syria and to keep their weapons directed against the Zionist enemy.”  Meanwhile, Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh were welcomed yesterday in the Turkish capital Ankara by the country’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, it remains unclear whether Erdogan will make good on a recent pledge to visit the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in a move which would be bound to annoy Israel especially as Israel and Turkey have recently taken tentative steps to repair relations which broke down in 2010.