Two Israelis sustained shrapnel wounds Wednesday afternoon after one Palestinian rocket, which was fired from the Gaza Strip, exploded at the parking lot of a commercial center in Sderot, Ynet reported. Earlier in the day, Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip fired some 20 Qassam rockets at southern Israel in response to the blockade of the costal territory and the killing of an Islamic Jihad Movement member.
On his part, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stopped short of pledging retaliation for the surge of Qassam rockets, saying "there can't be a situation where there is a truce, but the situation on the ground is very different." "This demands a response, and there will be a response," he added, according to Haaretz.
Olmert spoke just two days before the six-month calm agreement between Israel and Hamas was to expire.
