A nine-month-old baby was injured yesterday as the latest round of rocket fire from Gaza caused damage to southern Israel.

Seventeen rockets were fired across the border by terrorist groups on Wednesday night, wrecking property. A rocket aimed directly at the densely populated city of Beersheva was intercepted by the Iron Dome system.

Rockets were fired from inside the Gaza Strip into southern Israel last night, despite claims of a ceasefire from Hamas.

Four Qassam rockets landed in Israel on Monday night, with three exploding in the Hof Ashkelon area. One of the rockets sparked a blaze which firemen battled to control before it damaged nearby greenhouses.

As Israeli soldiers began removing Jewish Gaza residents from their homes, pictures of clashes, stories about the settlers and why they did not leave and musings about what Gaza would be like after appeared in newspapers around the world.

Two more Grad rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory on Wednesday evening.

One hit the entrance the Southern city of Ashkelon, the other an open area in the Lakhish region, not far from the border town of Sderot.

A Lakhist resident told Ynet that the rockets were frightening but that many residents did not have bomb shelters. "We have nowhere to go," she said.

The leaders of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parliamentary parties have met Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah during a visit to Gaza.

Parliamentary Labour Party chair Tony Lloyd MP and Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party chair Lorely Burt MP met Hamas officials on Sunday.

The pair were part of a delegation of 12 British parliamentarians, including one Green Party MEP and a number of Scottish MP

The former Israeli ambassador to Britain, now serving as his country's envoy to the United Nations, has launched an attempt to highlight the recent onslaught of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Ron Prosor emphasised that the attacks were deliberately targeting Israeli civilians and represented "a serious danger to the population".

Middle East minister Alistair Burt became the first Foreign Office minister to visit the Gaza Strip in five years on Tuesday, as he toured a United Nations school in Jabalia refugee camp and met business leaders in Gaza City.

Mr Burt said: "I was struck today by the need for further progress to allow imports by UNRWA and others to complete much-needed projects and to facilitate exports.