Grad rocket fired from Gaza scores direct hit on Ashkelon home

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Eight Grads hit Ashkelon, some 10 km from the Gaza border, and one scored a direct hit on a home in the port town. Several people were wounded in the barrages, although the exact number was unclear.

Some 10 Qassam rockets also struck the Negev town of Sderot. Two people - a 70-year-old woman and a bodyguard of Public Security Minister Avi Dichter - sustained minor shrapnel wounds. The bodyguard was wounded when a Qassam hit the Sapir College on the outskirts of Sderot, where a 47-year-old man was killed Wednesday in a a similar attack.

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IDF: Hamas to have unlimited supply of rockets targeting Ashkelon by end of 2008

Hamas will likely be able to expand the range of its homemade rockets to 20 kilometers (12 miles) by the end of the year, an Israeli security official said Thursday.

Such an upgrade could give Hamas an unlimited supply of rockets for targeting the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, which is 17 kilometers (11 miles) from Gaza and has 110,000 residents, military analysts said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/959172.html