Prime Minister Netanyahu paid a last-minute campaign visit to Beersheba on Tuesday when a rocket was fired at the city from Gaza. Some reports claim the PM was in the city at the time however the Likud party released a statement saying he had already left the area when the rocket was fired.

Video of the rocket launch from Gaza towards the city of Be’er Sheva this evening, while PM Netanyahu was visiting. pic.twitter.com/rcLmIu3eyA

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 23, 2021

The rocket landed in an open area and no injuries or damage were reported as a result. The IDF earlier said that the rocket had not been aimed at a residential area and thus no specific alert to take shelter was issued.

Despite this, Netanyahu’s security detail evacuated him to a secure area as soon as the launch was identified.

The southern border has been relatively quiet with the last projectile reported in the end of December. Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, releasing a video showing its terrorist members firing the rocket. 

The incident is the third of its kind. In 2019, Netanyahu was forced to take shelter during his campaign in two separate events, once in Ashdod in September and yet again in December in Ashkelon. 

Israeli aircraft struck several Hamas military installations in the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday morning, hours after Palestinian terrorists fired a rocket at Beersheva in an apparent attempt to disrupt Israel’s general election. There were no reports of casualties.

“Fighter jets and attack helicopters targeted a rocket manufacturing facility and a military outpost belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip. The attack was carried out in response to the rocket fire from Gaza into Israeli territory,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.

The army added that it holds Hamas responsible for what happens in Gaza and that the terror group would “bear the consequences of terrorist acts against Israeli citizens.”