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Agence France-Presse

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a house in a community north of Tel Aviv and caused it to catch fire on Monday, wounding five Israelis, authorities and doctors said.
Israel’s army said the rocket was fired from the Palestinian enclave run by Islamist movement Hamas, raising the risk of another escalation between the two sides just ahead of April 9 Israeli elections.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would cut short his trip to Washington, where he was due to meet with US President Donald Trump.
A Hamas official denied the group was behind the attack.
“No one from the resistance movements, including Hamas, has an interest in firing rockets from the Gaza Strip towards the enemy,” the official said on condition of anonymity, suggesting it may have been caused by “bad weather”.
The house hit was located in the community of Mishmeret, police said. Doctors said they were treating one Israeli with moderate wounds and four others injured lightly.
Mishmeret is more than 80km (50 miles) from the Gaza Strip and rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave at that distance is rare.

It would be sure to draw an Israeli response and comes after mounting tensions in recent weeks.
Netanyahu is believed by many analysts to want to avoid another war in the Gaza Strip – the fourth since 2008 – with unpredictable results ahead of the elections.
But he faces a tough challenge from a centrist political alliance led by former military chief Benny Gantz and he will come under heavy political pressure to react firmly.
Monday’s incident comes after two rockets were fired from Gaza towards Tel Aviv – also rare – on March 14.
No damage or injuries were caused, but Israel responded to that and further rocket fire by hitting what it said were around 100 Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip.
Four Palestinians were reported wounded in those strikes.
Both Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad denied they were behind the March 14 rocket fire towards Tel Aviv, raising the possibility they were launched by fringe groups.
Israel’s military said they were launched by Hamas, but later there were Israeli media reports that the army’s preliminary assessment was that they had been fired by mistake during maintenance work.
The reports were a sign that Israel was seeking to calm tensions. The military had refused to comment on the reports at the time.
Monday’s rocket comes just days ahead of the March 30 one-year anniversary of Palestinian protests and clashes along the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel.
An informal truce between Hamas and Israel had led to relative calm along the border of the blockaded strip, but recent weeks have seen another uptick in violence.


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Middle East

Israel blames Palestinian militants for Gaza rocket attack on Tel Aviv

The aftermath of the rocket attack in the community of Mishmeret, north of Tel Aviv. Photo: AFP

TOPSHOT - A picture taken from the Gaza Strip on November 12, 2018 shows missiles being launched toward Israel. - A number of rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel today, AFP journalists said, while Israel's army said an Israeli bus was hit by fire from the Palestinian enclave. (Photo by Said KHATIB / AFP)

News

World

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in Washington, said he was cutting short his visit because of the attack, which Hamas denies carrying out


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in Washington, said he was cutting short his visit because of the attack, which Hamas denies carrying out.


Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu