Iron Dome fails to down rocket fired at Israel from Gaza

JERUSALEM – Israel’s military says a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip toward southern Israel, the first since a missile hit a house in the city of Beersheba a week ago.

Air raid sirens blared in southern Israel late Wednesday after a week of relative calm. The military said in a statement early Thursday that an Iron Dome interceptor missile attempted to down a rocket launched from Gaza but failed.

The rocket attack came as Egypt and the United Nations are trying to mediate a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist militant group that rules the Gaza Strip.

The two sides came to the brink of all-out conflict over the summer amid weekly border protests organized by Hamas since March aimed in part at easing a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade.