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Sharp Increase in Rocket Fire from Gaza

More than a dozen rockets from the Gaza Strip hit Israel early Monday morning. Over the weekend, a rocket hit an Israeli factory in the southern town of Sderot, causing a fire. Israel has launched a series of retaliatory air strikes on Gaza. At least one Palestinian has been killed and several injured. There has been a sharp increase in tension between Israel and Gaza over the past two weeks, since the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank. Israeli officials have blamed Hamas, which controls Gaza, and there has been an increase of rocket fire since then. The kidnapping has also sparked tensions between Hamas and Fatah, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, which controls the West Bank. The two have signed a unity government meant to pave the way for Palestinian elections in six months. Abbas’s security forces have been helping Israeli troops search for the three Israeli teenagers. Some in Fatah say that if Hamas was indeed behind the kidnapping, Fatah will be forced to cancel the unity agreement with Hamas.