August 25, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-us-Sani 26

RAFAH, Gaza Strip, Aug 24: Palestinian fighters on Sunday carried out their deepest rocket strike against Israel.

A Qassam-II rocket, a makeshift weapon produced by Hamas, landed near a lifeguard station on the Zikim beach, eight kilometres north of the Gaza Strip, but caused no casualties or damage, Israeli military sources said.

“It is the deepest a Qassam (rocket) has landed inside Israeli territory,” one military source said. The site of impact was just south of the coastal Israeli resort city of Ashkelon.

Commenting on the Qassam attack, a military source said militants had used the truce to improve the rocket’s range. Experts say the Qassam-II has a range of up to eight kilometers against the five-kilometers long reach of the Qassam-I.—Reuters