Israel to close Gaza crossings after rocket attack

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said it would shut its border crossings with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in response to a rocket attack that further strained a ceasefire between the Jewish state and Gaza militants.

The rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Monday struck near the centre of Sderot, a town in southern Israel often targeted by militants, causing no damage or injuries, Israeli police said.

Israel's Defence Ministry said in a statement later crossings between Israel and the Hamas-controlled territory would be closed on Tuesday in response to the attack.

No Palestinian group claimed responsibility for firing the rocket.

Such attacks have become rare since an Egyptian-brokered truce with Hamas militants in Gaza took effect in June but Israel has closed the crossings twice since then after similar cross-border attacks by militants.

Raed Fattouh, a Palestinian official who coordinates the delivery of supplies into the coastal enclave, said he was notified by Israeli authorities that no goods would enter Gaza on Tuesday because of the attack.

Israel sharply cut the supply of goods into the Gaza Strip a year ago after Hamas seized the territory from forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas's more secular Fatah faction.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)

(Reporting by Avida Landau, Editing by Andrew Dobbie)