OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: A rocket fired from Gaza crashed into a house in southern Israel on Sunday, causing heavy damage but no casualties, as two more landed near the city of Beersheva, an Israel police spokesman said.

Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said one rocket hit a house in Netivot and caused damage to a second, while two others landed near Beersheva, a city of 194,000 people.

"There were two near Beersheva, and another in Netivot which damaged two houses," he said.

A military spokeswoman could only confirm two rockets, saying one had landed in "an uninhabited area near Beersheva" while a second "slammed into a house in Netivot causing serious damage."

According to a count by the army, militants have fired 14 rockets at Israel since September 1.

Following the attack, schools were closed for the day in Beersheva as well as in the southern coastal cities of Ashkelon, which has a population of 113,000 people, and Ashdod, home to 207,000 people, media reports said.

There has been a steady increase in rocket fire on southern Israel over the last few weeks, with a number of the attacks claimed by radical Salafist groups.

On Saturday, a Salafist group called Mujahedeen Shura Council said it had fired two rockets at southern Israel.

Israel routinely responds to rocket attacks with air strikes, and last week, six Palestinian were killed in two attacks within a 12-hour period.

Gaza health officials said all of them were civilians, but the Israeli military said it had targeted militants preparing attacks.

The last major flare-up in and around Gaza was in June, when militants fired more than 150 rockets at southern Israel, wounding five people, and Israel hit back with air strikes that killed 15 Palestinians.