The Israeli military said Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket toward southern Israel Saturday evening.

 

The rocket fell and exploded in an open area, triggering warning sirens in the Nahal Oz community to the east of Gaza City.

 

 

There were no reports of casualties or damage. The Israeli military usually responds to such rocket fire with airstrikes in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, raising the possibility of further violence just ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

 

 

The rocket attack comes a day before Israeli and Palestinian officials are set to meet in Egypt in a US-backed effort to defuse violence that has soared especially in the West Bank and east Jerusalem for nearly a year.

 

 

The meeting in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh is a follow-up to last month’s meeting in Jordan for the same purpose. However, deadly Israeli raids in the West Bank and Palestinian attacks continued since the Feb. 26 meeting in Aqaba. Twenty-three Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed in the ongoing bloodshed since then.