A Gaza rocket exploded near the Yad Mordechai kibbutz (pictured here) in southern Israel on Tuesday night. Photo: Bukvoed via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded in an open area near the Yad Mordechai kibbutz in southern Israel on Tuesday night, ending two weeks of quiet in the area.

While no injuries or damage were reported, the rocket launch prompted warning sirens to sound in the southern Israeli communities of Zikim, Karmia, Netiv Haasara, and Yad Mordechai.

Arab media outlets reported that an Islamic State-affiliated Salafi group in Gaza took responsibility for the rocket fire. Later on Tuesday night, the Israeli Air Force struck the launcher in northern Gaza from which the rocket was fired.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, of the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s Unit, said Tuesday’s rocket attack, coming just a day after the publication of the U.N. Human Rights Council report on last year’s Gaza war, was a “reminder of the cynical enemy that Israel faces.”

“#Israelis & #Palestinians alike deserve normal lives, not constant threats. #Hamas are responsible for aggression originating from #Gaza,” Lerner tweeted, referring to the Israeli government’s policy of holding the Gaza-ruling Palestinian terrorist organization accountable for other terror groups’ rocket fire from the coastal enclave.

Over the past month, Salafi terrorists in Gaza have fired several rockets into southern Israel. These rocket attacks appear to be connected to internal disputes in Gaza between the Salafis and Hamas.