Palestinian resistance claims responsibility for Ashkelon shelling

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military arm of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) has claimed responsibility for the bombing of the city of Ashkelon with Grad rockets this morning. The Brigades confirmed in a statement that the attack was in retaliation to the assassination of Arafat Jaradat who died in an Israeli prison. The group said freedom will only come by sacrifice and not by begging "and we must resist our enemy by all means available to us", confirming its commitment to armed struggle against the Israeli enemy and the continuation of resistance. This is the first time that Palestinian strugglers launch rockets on an Israeli city from the Gaza Strip since the Egypt-brokered truce agreement went into effect between Hamas and Israel following the recent Israeli aggression on Gaza. It also comes at a time when the West Bank is going through severe tension after the death of Arafat Jaradat, from Hebron, during interrogation in an Israeli jails. Dozens of Palestinians were wounded in confrontations that swept many West Bank cities yesterday in the wake of Jaradat's death.