http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1063114.html
Last update - 23:22 10/02/2009
Qassam strikes near Sderot, half an hour before election polls close
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
Tags: israel news, Qassam
A Qassam rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip exploded
in an open field near the western Negev city of Sderot on Tuesday evening, just
half an hour before the polls were to close on Israel's general election.
Also Tuesday night, someone opened fire on a car with Israeli license
plates near the settlement of Beit El in the West Bank. No injuries were
reported in the incident.
Security personnel who examined the scene of the shooting found 17 bullet
shells on the ground.
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More than 35 Qassam rockets, mortar shells, and Grad missiles have been
fired at Israel since a shaky cease-fire with Hamas took effect over two weeks
ago, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Egypt is currently mediating separate talks with Hamas and Israel over a
long-term truce in the embattled Gaza Strip. Delegates from both sides have
been shuttling back and forth to Cairo in recent week in an attempt to reach a
solution that would include an agreement on the release of abducted Israeli
soldier Gilad Shalit and the opening of Gaza border crossings.
A Hamas representative in Lebanon on Tuesday said the group was waiting
to see how the outcome of the Israeli elections would affect the negotiations
over Gaza.
"It all depends on the ouctome of the Israeli elections," Osama Hamdan
told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
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