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| AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis |
The drone was launched from Gaza and was shot down near the southern city of Ashdod, the military said. Hamas claimed it launched several drones yesterday at Israel, without immediately providing details on their missions.
Since the latest bout of fighting began last Tuesday, militants have fired nearly 1,000 rockets at Israel, causing some injuries and damage to property, but no fatalities among Israelis. By contrast, 172 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel's air attacks.
But the use of drones with an offensive capacity could potentially inflict significant casualties — something the rockets from Gaza have failed to do, largely because of the success of the military's 'Iron Dome' air defense system in shooting them down.
"Hamas is trying everything it can to produce some kind of achievement and it is crucial that we maintain our high state of readiness," Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said. "The shooting down of a drone this morning by our air defense system is an example of their efforts to strike at us in any way possible."
Israel began airstrikes Tuesday against militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in what it says was a response to heavy rocket fire out of the densely populated territory. The military says it has launched more than 1,300 airstrikes since then, while Palestinian militants have launched nearly 1,000 rockets at Israel.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says 172 people have been
killed, including dozens of civilians. There have been no Israeli
fatalities, though several people have been wounded, including a teenage
boy who was seriously injured by rocket shrapnel on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the current Israeli operation could last for "a long time" and that the military was prepared "for all possibilities." That includes a wide-ranging Gaza ground operation, which would likely cause heavy casualties in the coastal strip.
But Netanyahu is coming under increasing international pressure to end the operation soon. On Sunday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate cease-fire while US Secretary of State John Kerry voiced American "readiness" to help restore calm. Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, continued to work behind the scenes to stop the conflict.
Hamas has sent signals it may be ready to consider a cease-fire but appears to be waiting for some tangible military or diplomatic achievement before moving ahead on that front. For his part, Netanyahu wants to show the Israeli public that he has succeeded in significantly degrading Hamas's ability to strike at its Israeli targets before moving ahead diplomatically.
Meanwhile, a 21-year-old Palestinian man was killed yesterday during confrontations with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank village of Samoa, near Hebron, Palestinian health officials said. Residents of the village said soldiers opened fire at a group of Palestinians who were throwing stones at them. The officials and the villagers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.
The Israeli army confirmed the death and said it was looking into the incident.
SANTIAGO - A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off northern Chile's coast on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said, with no immediate reports of major damage or casualties.
The agency said the quake hit at 4:54 pm (2054 GMT) in the Pacific Ocean 22 kilometers (14 miles) west of Iquique, Chile, at a depth of 35.7 kilometers.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, according to the national emergency office ONEMI.
An 8.2-magnitude quake in the same area in April killed six people and forced a million to leave their homes in the region around Iquique, 1,800 kilometers north of the capital Santiago.
Chile is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, and is located in the so-called Ring of Fire area of the Pacific Ocean basin.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the sea on Sunday, South Korea said, the latest in a series of test-firings seen as expressions of anger over the North's failure to win talks on receiving outside aid, and over U.S.-South Korean military drills.
The missiles, believed to be of Scud variations, were fired from the North Korean city of Kaesong near the border with the South and had a range of about 500 kilometers (311 miles), said a South Korean military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of department rules.
North Korea experts said it was highly unusual for Pyongyang to fire missiles from a city just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the heavily fortified border separating the two Koreas. The North usually test-fires missiles launched from its eastern port city of Wonsan, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the border.
"It is remarkable that missiles were fired from Kaesong, a symbol of North-South cooperation," said professor Yang Moo-jin of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies. The jointly-run Kaesong Industrial Complex brings together South Korean-owned companies with North Korean labor. "Such action can mount tensions as it suggests that these missiles ... can target the entire Korean Peninsula. "
North Korea regularly conducts test-firings, but this year has seen an unusually large number of launches. South Korean officials have confirmed about 90 test-firings of missiles, artillery and rockets by the North since Feb. 21. More than 10 of them have been ballistic launches.
North Korea recently has pushed South Korea to accept a set of proposals that it said would reduce bilateral tensions, including the cancellation of regular military drills between Seoul and Washington that Pyongyang insists are preparation for a northward invasion.
Pyongyang's National Defense Commission released a statement Saturday strongly criticizing the U.S.-South Korean joint naval drills that are reportedly to take place in Korean waters beginning Wednesday. The NDC also said the landing of the United States' George Washington Carrier Strike Group in South Korea's port city of Busan was a part of America's "reckless nuclear blackmail and threat."
"Whenever there was a sign of improving the North-South relations and detente on the peninsula, the U.S. resorted to sinister interference and obstructions," said the statement, which was released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
Many in South Korea have doubts over how sincere the impoverished North is about its push to reduce tensions, and analysts see the pressure for better ties as meant in part to eventually win much-needed outside aid and investment. South Korea has rejected the North's proposals, saying it must first demonstrate that it is serious about nuclear disarmament if it truly wants peace.
North Korea likely possesses a small arsenal of crude nuclear bombs and is working to build an arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles that could reach the U.S. mainland.
The Korean Peninsula officially remains in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
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