GAZA/JERUSALEM ( Rockets Launched from Gaza Hit Outskirts of Jerusalem )

GAZA/JERUSALEM – Rockets launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel struck the outskirts of Jerusalem late Tuesday, causing damage but no casualties.

Witnesses told Efe that one rocket, which activated the air-raid sirens for the first time since Israel launched its offensive against the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza, hit in the area of Mateh Yehuda, a mountainous zone west of the Holy City.

The Israeli press reports that a second rocket fell in a vacant area near Pisgat Zeev, a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem.

Earlier Tuesday, the municipal government had decided to begin opening the city’s air-raid shelters given the possibility that Hamas has rockets that could reach the city.

Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, within a range of 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the Gaza Strip were already on alert for rocket attacks.

In a later communique, Hamas said it had launched four M75 rockets against Jerusalem, which is 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Gaza Strip.

While many Jerusalem residents are sleeping in shelters, others gathered downtown to watch World Cup action from Brazil.

Air-raid sirens have also been heard in Tel Aviv, where the Iron Dome antimissile shield intercepted at least one rocket.

The armed wing of Hamas said that it had launched rockets against Haifa, on Israel’s northern coast, more than 150 kilometers (about 93 miles) from Gaza.

Israel on Tuesday began a massive military operation against the Gaza Strip.

During the first few hours of the offensive, at least 18 people died, many of them civilians, Palestinian health officials said.

Defense Ministry officials said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not ruled out a ground offensive and Israel’s Security Cabinet mobilized 1,500 reservists and called up 40,000 others to gradually reinforce regular troops on the border with the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu said at the end of the Security Cabinet meeting that Israel should be prepared for a “long, continuous and tough campaign against Gaza.”

The Israeli army said about 200 rockets had been fired from Gaza since June 12, when Israel began a massive search for three Jewish seminary students who went missing in the West Bank and were found murdered last week.

Israel blamed the kidnappings on Hamas, which has denied any role in the three Israelis’ deaths, and arrested 500 people, most of them linked to the Islamist movement, during the search.

Tensions between the two sides flared after a Palestinian teenager was abducted in Jerusalem last week and found burned to death hours later in a revenge killing for the murders of the three Israeli students.

Israeli security forces have arrested six people in connection with the murder, one of whom confessed on Monday and confirmed the involvement of the other accused.