Palestinians fire new weapon at Israel - army
JERUSALEM, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Palestinian militants fired what appeared to be a new type of rocket at an Israeli farming community close to the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip on Sunday, the army said. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
An army spokesman said both the range and impact of the projectile made it likely it was a type of "Qassam" rocket built by the militant Islamic group Hamas which had not previously been used in a 16-month-old Palestinian uprising.
"All the indications lead us to believe that it is a Qassam 2," Israeli army spokesman Jacob Dallal said. "We found three launchers in Palestinian-controlled areas in Gaza directly west of the Nahal Oz (farming community)."
He said it would take time to confirm the early assessment of the type of rocket as troops scour the area for fragments.
Uri Yaari, a security officer at the Israeli kibbutz where the projectile fell, said the rocket left a hole in the ground one-and-a-half metres wide and one metre deep, close to the community's farmland.
Palestinian militants have frequently fired mortar bombs at Israeli targets in or near Gaza during the uprising against Israeli occupation which erupted in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.
Early versions of the Qassam have been fired at Israeli targets inside occupied parts of the Gaza Strip in the past. The Qassam 2 is said to have a longer range -- up to eight km (five miles) -- than mortars or previous rocket models.
Hamas officials have said they were equipping themselves with such rockets to fight Israel's modern army.
Israel has warned that the launch of such rockets into its territory would amount to a grave escalation of the current conflict in which more than 1,000 people have been killed.
09:48 02-10-02
Except they don't have the cojones to take on real military targets, which is why they sneak past however many military checkpoints to get to pizza parlors, discos and shoe stores.