Rockets strike near Tel Aviv

Violence along the Gaza border has worsened in recent days. Photo / AP

Palestinian rockets struck deep inside Israel yesterday close to the urban sprawl south of Tel Aviv, and Israel pounded targets in Gaza in an escalating conflict that has raised fears of a new war.

Israeli police said long-range Grad rockets fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip hit Ashdod and an area north of the Mediterranean port. There were no reports of casualties.

Violence along the Gaza border has worsened in recent days and a bomb attack on Thursday in Jerusalem that Israeli police blamed on Palestinian militants killed one woman and injured 30 people.

It was the first such bombing in the city since 2004. The dead woman was a British tourist.