Gaza rocket hits southern Israel amid fragile truce

Militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at southern Israel on Sunday evening, less than a day after a fragile ceasefire came into force following five days of deadly fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group.

An Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement that the rocket fell in an open area, causing no injuries or damage. "No interceptors were launched according to protocol," the statement said.

The rocket triggered sirens in several communities surrounding the Gaza Strip and the southern city of Ashkelon.

There was no immediate Israeli retaliation to the rocket.

The five-day confrontation started after an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday killed three senior PIJ leaders in the Gaza Strip.

During the fightings, Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes, killing at least 33 Palestinians and injuring more than 150 others, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said that 1,469 rockets were launched toward Israel from Gaza, among which 1,139 hit Israeli territory.

According to Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service, two people were killed in Israel: an 80-year-old woman when a rocket struck a residential building and a Palestinian man from Gaza by rocket shrapnel while he was working in a greenhouse in an Israeli community near the Gaza Strip.