[IMRA: The day this item was published Fatah announced that they have
extended the range of their rockets to 25 kilometers. If this is the case
then an effective "no man's land" would require the evacuation of many
Palestinian communities in northern Gaza.]

Excerpts from "PM orders defense chiefs to halt Qassam launchers in Gaza"
By Amos Harel and Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent 26 December 2005
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/662097.html

...A senior IDF officer told Haaretz over the weekend that Islamic Jihad has
been upgrading their Qassam rockets, and the terrorist group's shelling
barrages in recent weeks have been much more precise in finding their
targets than in the past.

...
IDF personnel are impressed that Islamic Jihad is gradually closing the gap
between their weaponry and that of Hamas, the organization that developed
the rockets but lately has cut back on using them, military sources said.

Neither organization has yet succeeded in extending the rockets' range. The
Qassam can travel a maximum distance of nine kilometers.

Some of the rockets that landed at the southern entrance of Ashkelon were
fired from a distance of eight kilometers, originating in the evacuated
settlements of Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nisanit.

Security sources believe Hamas is taking advantage of the relative calm in
violence to focus on improving the Qassams' range.

The sources said Hamas would soon be able to produce rockets with a range of
some 15 kilometers.

...