16 projectiles were fired at southern Israel bringing the day's total to 26.

Two Grad-type missiles slammed into Ashdod, one of them hitting an eight-story residential building and destroying the top floor.

The four residents of the top two apartments were not home, having left for shelter in a fortified room. Several people were treated for shock following the attack.

Another Grad hit Beersheba - the second to hit the city Thursday - five rockets struck the Ashkelon area, seven slammed into the Eshkol region and another landed in the Lachish region. No casualties were reported in the barrage.

Throughout Thursday morning, Gaza terrorists fired some ten rockets at the South as the IDF's Operation Cast Lead entered its sixth day. No one was wounded in the attacks, but several buildings were damaged as a rocket landed in an Eshkol neighborhood.

Three Grad-type rockets were also fired at Beersheba overnight Wednesday, causing no casualties. According to Israel Radio, the city's alarm system was not functioning and the Home Front Command would fix it by Thursday afternoon.

Also overnight Wednesday, two Kassam rockets were fired at Netivot. No casualties or damage were reported.

Since the start of the Gaza operation, three Israeli civilians and one soldier have been killed in rocket attacks that have reached deeper into Israel than ever before, bringing one-eighth of Israel's population within rocket range.

Meanwhile in Gaza, Sheikh Nizar Ryan, a senior Hamas leader and cleric was killed along with several others when an IAF aircraft dropped a bomb on his Jabaliyah home, Palestinian sources reported Thursday.

A large cloud of smoke billowed above the northern Gaza town after the attack and Palestinian sources were quoted by Channel 2 as saying that the air strike was carried out by F-16 fighter jets.

Israeli Channel 10 reported that Ryan was the "mufti" of Hamas's military wing and had replaced Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as the organization's top clerical authority after Yassin's assassination in 2004.

Earlier, the IAF launched a quick-fire response shortly after a Grad-type missile slammed into the top floor of an Ashdod building.