Israel prepares for hostilities in Gaza after rocket attack

Israeli authorities are taking precautions ahead of a likely military retaliation against the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers after a rocket struck an Israeli house, wounding seven.

Local authorities in southern Israel started readying bomb shelters on Monday ahead of possible hostilities.

Israeli media are reporting that flights to and from Israel’s main international airport were diverted from their normal flight paths, and train services to several southern cities near the Gaza Strip have been canceled.

The Israeli military has also closed several roads around Gaza.

Monday’s rocket was the second launched toward central Israel in recent weeks, and prompted Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to cut short a trip to Washington.

The UN Mideast envoy condemned the firing of the rocket from Gaza into Israel.

Nickolay Mladenov called the overnight strike, which wounded seven people, “absolutely unacceptable.” He tweeted Monday that the UN is working “intensely” with Egyptian mediators and “all sides” to stave off a looming escalation but that “the situation remains very tense.”

Efforts by Egypt and the UB to restore a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers have halted bouts of cross-border violence in the past.

The long-range rocket fired from the Gaza Strip slammed into a house in central Israel and wounded seven people early Monday.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised a tough response while Gaza’s Hamas leaders went into hiding, setting the stage for a possible major conflagration just two weeks before Israeli elections.