Gaza gunmen fired two mortar shells towards the Erez border crossing on Sunday while a Palestinian heart patient was being transferred by ambulance into Israel to receive medical care. The shells landed on the Palestinian side of the perimeter fence. On Sunday morning, a Kassam rocket fired from Gaza landed in the Sdot Negev region. There were no reports of casualties or damage in either incident.
Following Sunday morning's Kassam attack, opposition leader Tzipi Livni said that Israel must respond to every rocket. Speaking on a tour of Beersheba with Kadima faction members on Sunday afternoon, Livni said Israel must not "collect Kassams" before embarking on a military operation. The last time a Kassam was fired from Gaza was in mid-July, when a rocket struck the Sdot Negev region. There were no casualties or damage in that incident either.
Rocket attacks have been rare since Operation Cast Lead in January and have not caused any casualties.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has vowed to respond to any rocket fire from the Strip, saying in late July, "Our policy is that we are not prepared to accept rocket and missile fire on Israeli territory. For every rocket, before the elections [in February] there may not have been a response, but that has not been the case since the elections. This was and will remain our policy."
Israel has recently conducted successful tests of the Iron Dome missile defense system. The system, under development by Rafael Defense Systems, is slated to become operational sometime in 2010 and is reportedly capable of intercepting short-range Kassam and Katyusha rockets fired by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hizbullah in southern Lebanon.
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