UN official quick to condemn rockets fired at Israel

United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, was quick to condemn on Tuesday the firing earlier of apparently two rockets from Gaza into Israel without causing any injury or damage. Israeli police said one rocket fired from Gaza landed in a street in the coastal city of Asqalan and apparently a second one fell in an open area. In a statement issued by Serry’s Jerusalem office, the UN official said he was “deeply troubled by resumed indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza, which is totally unacceptable.” This is the first report of rocket firing into Israel since the Egyptian-brokered November ceasefire that ended eight days of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. “Today's developments only underscore the importance of ongoing Egyptian efforts to solidify the truce brokered last November, which UNSCO will continue to support,” said Serry. It is believed that the rocket attack was in response to the death of a Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jail on Saturday that caused outbreak of protests throughout the West Bank.