A rocket exploded in southern Israel on Tuesday, Reuters reported, in the first such attack by militants from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip since November, Israeli police said. The rocket caused some damage to a road near the city of Ashkelon but no injuries, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. There were no immediate claims of responsibility by any militants in Gaza, where Egyptian mediators helped achieve a truce after eight days of punishing Israeli air strikes amid rocket attacks from Gaza in late November. This latest attack came after the death on Saturday of a Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody. The death, as well as a hunger strike by four other Palestinian inmates, has stoked tensions ahead of a planned visit next month by President Barack Obama.
