Four rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, with one hitting the southern Israeli town, she said.

The rockets, manufactured by the radical Islamic movement Hamas, were fired just hours after a massive Israeli army raid into Gaza City overnight to smash metal workshops used to produce the crude missiles. Eleven Palestinians died in the raid.

It was the first time Palestinian militants fired the Qassams -- named after Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades -- since January 26, when several missiles landed near Sderot, causing no damage.

A senior Palestinian official said since Qassam rocket strikes sparked a huge Israeli incursion last month, Palestinian security services had been working to prevent such attacks.

But the senior official said three of those killed overnight had been Palestinian security officers on patrol to prevent anti-Israeli attacks.

Israeli security officials had admitted that the Palestinian security forces had been making serious efforts to prevent the firing of the unguided missiles, which have a range of up to 12 kilometers.

(China Daily February 20, 2003)