A woman was killed and two people - including the bodyguard of the Israeli defence minister - were seriously injured today when more than a dozen rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza.
The rockets were aimed at Sderot and Ashkelon and prompted calls for Israel to invade the Gaza Strip again to prevent more such attacks.
Israeli forces have just completed a week-long occupation of the town of Beit Hanoun, in which more than 60 people were killed. The occupation was meant to stop the firing of rockets, but they appear to have become more accurate. In recent weeks a higher proportion have landed in built-up areas rather than farmland.
It is the first time since July 2005 that the crude Palestinian rockets have claimed a victim. Fa'ina Slutzker, 57, was shopping with her husband when she was hit. The bodyguard of Amir Peretz, the Israeli defence minister, who lives 150 metres from where the rocket landed, was patrolling the area and lost both his legs. Later in Sderot a 24-year-old man was also seriously injured.
The rockets have killed a total of nine people since they were first fired in 2001. Islamic Jihad and Hamas claimed responsibility, claiming retaliation for Israel's killing of 19 civilians when its artillery shells misfired.
Avi Dichter, the public security minister, told Israeli army radio that Israel must expand its operations to bring about "a complete halt" to rocket fire, "whether that means a ground operation or an air operation or other special operations".
The Israeli army has failed in repeated attempts to stop the launches. Each time the army enters Gaza those responsible pull back to different positions.
Eli Moyal, the mayor of Sderot, called for Gaza to be punished so its people would realise they could not afford to allow rocket fire on Israel. "An equation has to be created in which it is not worth it for the Palestinians to fire," he told the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz.