The development came after Israeli authorities acknowledged that several rockets have made impact in Dimona and a few others were intercepted by its Iron Dome anti-missile system.

The movement’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, stated on Thursday that it fired M-75 rockets towards Dimona.

One of the rockets on Thursday was intercepted by the Iron Dome antimissile system while two others allegedly landed on open areas, according to Israeli reports.

The Thursday rocket launch is the second attempt to strike the Israeli nuclear reactor in the latest surge of Israeli-Palestinian violence. On Wednesday, seven rockets were launched towards the Dimona nuclear site, with three of them intercepted and four others striking the city but reportedly causing no significant damage.

It is difficult to verify Israeli claims of the number of missile interceptions and the damages caused by the Palestinian rockets, especially in the highly secure and secretive Dimona nuclear establishment.

The Israeli military is waging the most violent military campaign in two years against the impoverished Palestinian territory administered by the Hamas movement, delivering airstrikes at hundreds of mostly residential locations in Gaza.

The Palestinians respond with barrages of dozens of rockets.

During this round of escalation, the Iron Dome interceptors were launched at about 27 percent of rockets fired from Gaza, those which the Israeli military thought could strike populated areas, US and Israeli officials claimed Thursday.

However, their past claims in about the rate of interceptions by the Iron Dome system were described by expert studies as being grossly inflated with one study estimating the actual rate of interceptions at near zero percent.

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