By JPOST.COM STAFF AND YAAKOV LAPPIN
02/24/2011 01:05

Following fire of Katyusha in Negev which causes extensive damage, Lieberman says "Israel will not remain indifferent to these acts"; residents treated for shock; IAF responds by striking Islamic Jihad cell in Gaza.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman late night Wednesday instructed the Israeli UN delegation to submit a complaint to the UN Security Council and General Assembly over the grad rocket that hit Beersheba earlier in the evening. "Israel will not remain indifferent to these acts," Lieberman stressed in his statement.

The grad-model Katyusha rocket struck the Negev city on Wednesday night, the first such attack on the city since Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip over two years ago

The IDF responded harshly to the attacks. In an initial response late Wednesday, the IAF attacked an Islamic Jihad cell east of Gaza City, reportedly wounding three gunmen.

The rocket landed in a courtyard near a villa in Beersheba at about 8.45 p.m., causing extensive damage to homes in the area but no casualties.

Sirens went off throughout the city just seconds before the rocket struck.

Four residents – two adults and two children – were treated for shock.

“I heard a siren, then a boom, and everything in my house just shook,” a woman named Zehava told Israel Radio. “It was terrible.”

“We’ve been through worse, and we’ll get through this, too,” said Beersheba Mayor Ruvik Danilovich.

“Thank God, no one was hurt because everyone in the area entered protected rooms.”

Another rocket hit the Netivot area a short time later, causing no harm.