WRAP Israeli killed by militant rocket, Ashkelon scenes ADDS more rockets

(27 Dec 2008) SHOTLIST Netivot 1. Top shot of exterior of apartment buildings, with debris on grass and people standing around 2. Media walking into apartment, photographing damage done by rocket, including hole in exterior wall of bedroom 3. Dust and debris on bed 4. Close-up of hole in wall, garden and outside can be seen through hole 5. Women standing inside apartment 6. Dust and debris and broken glass in living room 7. Broken window and parking lot as seen through window 8. Crying children being comforted 9. Officials and media looking at damage done to exterior of apartment building, pan to entrance to lobby with security personnel 10. Police vehicle arriving, officers jumping out and seeking cover by wall 11. Armed security personnel arriving, seeking cover by wall, running back to near police vehicle 12. Military personnel walking past camera Nby Mari, near Sderot 13. Plume of smoke rising from within Gaza from rocket fired towards Israel 14. Israeli residents looking across at Gaza through binoculars 15. Helicopter flying overhead 16. Israeli tank patrolling border 17. Plume of smoke rising in Gaza after retaliatory Israeli strike (same area where rocket was fired) 18. Various of tank, armoured vehicle 19. Wide of tank near border Ashkelon 20. Deserted street scene AUDIO rocket alert siren 21. Cars driving 22. Various of hospital preparations STORYLINE: Gaza militants fired several rockets into southern Israel on Saturday in retaliation for a devastating wave of Israeli airstrikes on Hamas security compounds, killing at least one Israeli and wounding four others in the town of Netivot. Several other medium-range Grad missiles were fired at Israel, with at least one reaching deeper than in the past and striking a new target, the town of Kiryat Gat. Nearly 200 people were killed and 270 wounded in Saturday's unprecedented airstrikes on Gaza - making it the single bloodiest day in the coastal strip in recent memory. The air offensive followed weeks of intense Palestinian rocket and mortar fire on southern Israel, and Israeli leaders had issued increasingly tough warnings in recent days that they would not tolerate continued attacks. Following Saturday's strikes, Israel declared a state of emergency in Israeli communities within a 20 kilometres (12.4 mile) range of Gaza. Streets were nearly empty in Sderot, the Israeli border town about a mile from Gaza that has been pummelled hardest by rockets. A few cars carried panicked residents leaving the city. Dozens of people congregated on a hilltop to watch the Israeli aerial attacks. In Ashkelon, hospitals began to make extra preparations to deal with casualties as a rocket alert sounded earlier in the afternoon. Israel has warned in recent days it would strike back hard against continued rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli border towns. Israel has targeted Gaza in the past, but the number of simultaneous attacks was unprecedented. Israel left Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation, although it still controls the strip's border crossings. The withdrawal did not lead to better relations with Palestinians in the territory as Israeli officials had hoped, the evacuation was followed by a rise in militant attacks on Israeli border communities that has often provoked harsh Israeli military reprisals. The last, in late February and early March of this year, spurred both sides to agree to a cease-fire that was to have lasted six months but began unravelling in early November. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...