This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.The following is a detailed list of Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks on Israel in 2013.
The attack, which took place during an escalation of Palestinian violence against Israelis in the Fatah-controlled West Bank, was said to be the first of its kind since a 21 November 2012 truce and to have probably enjoyed the blessing of Hamas.
[9] Around 7:15 am, on the second day of a visit by US President Barack Obama in Israel, Palestinians in Beit Hanoun fired four rockets at the Israeli city of Sderot, triggering alarms in local communities and forcing residents on their way to work or school to run to bomb shelters.
One rocket hit the backyard of a home in the city, spraying shrapnel into the walls and shattering windows.
"Responding to the bragging of the Roman dog and the war criminals of their so-called Iron Dome, we assert that all their military techniques will not stop God's destiny of tormenting them", the group posted on an Islamist website.
The 64-year-old Abuhamdia, who was serving a life sentence for his role in a foiled plot to blow up a busy Jerusalem cafe in 2002, died of throat cancer at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, Israel.
[17][18][19] Israel responded to the attacks with air strikes on two targets in the Gaza Strip that night, causing no injuries.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said: "[W]e see Hamas as being responsible for everything that is fired from the Strip at Israel.
The rockets struck just as parents were dropping their children off at schools and kindergartens, triggering sirens and sending families fleeing for cover.
[20] United Nations special envoy to the Middle East Robert Serry condemned the "indiscriminate firing of rockets into civilian areas" and also called on Israel to exercise restraint.
The rocket landed in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council at around 2 am, triggering alarms in nearby communities, while two of the mortars fell within the Gaza Strip.
[27] In the evening, as Israelis began observance of the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day and during a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry in the region, Palestinians fired three rockets at Israel.
[31] Around 9 am, two 122 mm Grad rockets were fired at the Israeli resort city of Eilat on the Red Sea coast, triggering alarms.
One of the rockets exploded in a construction site in the residential neighborhood of Shahamon, while the other fell adjacent to the main hotel strip, near the Jordanian border.
[36] Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Israel would respond to the attack, as was the country's consistent policy for the past four years.
[39] Before daybreak, Palestinians fired a rocket into the Eshkol Regional Council, triggering sirens in nearby towns and forcing residents into bomb shelters.
[40][41] On the evening of the Jewish Lag BaOmer holiday, Palestinians fired a rocket into the Sdot Negev Regional Council.
It also temporarily closed the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip for commercial goods, keeping it open exclusively for humanitarian passage.
[47][48] The Palestinian Ansar Brigades claimed to have launched 5 mortar shells at the Israeli towns of Kerem Shalom and Holit (in the Eshkol Regional Council).
[52] As Israelis celebrated the holiday of Shavuot, Palestinians fired a rocket into the Eshkol Regional Council, triggering the Color Red alarm.
[53][54] In a separate incident that took place in the morning, two mortar shells were fired from Syria at Mount Hermon in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
A previously unknown Palestinian Islamist group calling itself the Abdul Qader al-Husseini brigades claimed responsibility for the launchings, saying that its motive was "avenging all our martyrs that we lost in our war with the Zionist enemy".
Mortar shells fired from Syria had landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in several previous incidents, but all of these were presumed to be accidental fallout from the Syrian civil war.
It also temporarily closed the Kerem Shalom and Erez border crossings between Israel and Gaza for commercial passage.
The incident occurred just as Israel was releasing, as a concession in the renewed peace talks, a group of Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, and less than 24 hours after Islamist militants in Egypt fired a Grad rocket at the Israeli resort town of Eilat.
[72][73] Israel responded with air strikes on rocket launching sites in the northern Gaza Strip.
[75] Shortly after 2 am, as Israelis were celebrating the holiday of Sukkot, Palestinians fired a rocket into the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, triggering the Code Red alarm throughout the area.
[92][93] Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the attack.
[94] Shortly after midnight, Palestinians fired a rocket towards the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, causing the Color Red alarm to sound in the area.
[95] Around 19:50, Palestinians fired a rocket towards the Eshkol Regional Council, causing the Color Red alarm to sound in the area.