Rocket attacks make May Israel’s deadliest month in two years

449 incidents last month is major surge in violence from April’s 126, after series of rockets fired into Israel killing four

Rockets attacks from Gaza made May Israel’s deadliest month in almost two years, tripling the number of terrorists attacks over April’s tally.

The increase to 449 incidents in May over April’s 126 incidents owes to the launching of hundreds of rockets last month from Gaza into Israel, the Israel Security Agency said in its monthly report for May published earlier this week. The rockets killed four people and wounded eight. Two other Israelis were injured in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem.

Terrorist attacks in the West Bank, meanwhile, decreased by 43 percent, from 88 in April to 50 last month.

Last week, the Israel Security Agency, or ISA, revealed it had foiled a plan by Hamas to set off an explosive charge inside Israel on April 9, during the general elections. A 23-year-old man, Yihia abu Dhia, whom ISA says is a Hamas operative, was arrested on March 31 in the West Bank village of A-Zaim in connection with the alleged plot. He had agreed to carry out a suicide bombing for handlers in Gaza, ISA said.

The intended target was a traffic artery in Ma’aleh Adumim, a settlement near Jerusalem, ISA’s statement read.