Gaza terrorists continued to target Israelis Wednesday afternoon, firing the 506th missile or mortal bomb this year. Missiles or shells have hit at a rate of almost two a day.

The rocket fell in an open area in the Western Negev, and no damage was reported.

Terrorists, who still are called “militants” by foreign news services and some Israeli mainstream newspapers, struck next to a kindergarten in Sderot Wednesday night, causing damage to the building, which was empty at the time, but no injuries.

“Since the beginning of 2012, more than 505 rockets fired from Gaza hit Israel, including over 45 during October alone,” the IDF stated Wednesday.

Overnight, Israel carried out what has become a routine symbolic retaliation, bombing “a terror activity site” in northern Gaza.

The targets usually are weapons manufacturing sites, rocket and ammunition storage buildings or terrorist tunnels. The Defense Ministry  and IDF have not explained why the sites are bombed only after a rocket attack on Israel.

Five missiles and mortar shells exploded in southern Israel on Sunday, a week after Israel eliminated two Salafist terrorist leaders in Rafiah, a southern Gaza city that straddles the Egyptian-Gaza border and which is a major point of smuggling of drugs and weapons.

The recent firing by terrorists of an anti-aircraft missile at the IAF, reported by Arutz Sheva on Tuesday, has led military sources to believe that Hamas is ready to force an escalation of violence with Israel, possibly including a massive rocket barrage within a short period of time. .