Three Qassam rockets were fired into the western Negev town of Sderot from the Gaza Strip Thursday evening, one of which struck the yard of a preschool adjacent to a synagogue, causing extensive damage to the building but no casualties. Several passersby were treated for shock.
Earlier Thursday, three rockets slammed into the Sha'ar Hanegev regional council. No injuries or damage were reported.
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efense Minister Ehud Barak warned on Thursday against hasty military action against militants in the Gaza Strip, a day after a rocket fired from the Hamas-controlled territory hit a shopping mall in the coastal city of Ashkelon.
"After the events of yesterday the blood boils and the gut wants to react," Barak said during a speech in Jerusalem. But he added: "It is more important to exercise judgment and to follow a policy of think first, act later."
Wednesday's attack came as U.S. President George W. Bush met Israeli leaders in Jerusalem to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of their state -- an event Palestinians commemorate as the "Nakba", or catastrophe, for their people.
Barak also vowed to stop the cross-border rocket attacks, and said Israel's actions "will show results, as we have shown in the past, not by words, but by correct and timely action".
Ashkelon, which is more than 10 km (six miles) north of the coastal strip, has generally been out of range of the almost daily rocket fire from Gaza, but some more powerful rockets, notably Soviet-designed Katyushas or Grads, have struck the city of some 120,000 people this year.
The victims of the attack, however, showed some progress Thursday. Avital Afjan, a 24-year-old Ashkelon resident who was seriously hurt when the roof of the shopping mall came crashing down, has been classified as stable. She underwent an operation overnight and was later transferred to the trauma unit of the Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer.
The condition of her two-year-old daughter Tair was still considered serious, but she reportedly regained consciousness. Tair suffered serious shrapnel wounds to her head.
The condition of two more women who were seriously hurt in the strike improved Thursday.
