The intruders were said to have placed an explosive device by the school. There was no word on casualties, KUNA reported.

A barrage of six Qassam missiles was fired in two volleys at Sderot in Israel. One hit the Neve Shalom synagogue near a nursery school. Several people were treated for shock. Others landed around Shear Hanegev, starting fires.

Mortar shells crashed down in the Nahal Oz area. A rocket aimed at the Israeli town of Netivot east of the Gaza Strip, the day after a rocket wrecked the Ashkelon shopping mall and injured 100 people, exploded in open ground.