Gaza militants launched two rockets into southern Israel early on Sunday, drawing a threat of new military retaliation from Israel’s prime minister and further straining a cease-fire that ended Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive two weeks ago.

There were no casualties from the rockets, though one projectile landed near a kindergarten in a community near Gaza, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Warning sirens sent residents scrambling for shelter. The Israeli offensive was aimed at halting years of rocket attacks, and the military declared a cease-fire on January 18 after declaring its goals had been achieved.

But Sunday’s rockets, which followed sporadic rocket fire and the killing of an Israeli soldier in a border bombing attack last week, illustrated the difficulties of achieving a complete end to the attacks. Despite years of efforts, Israel’s high-tech military still has not found a solution to stopping the crude, homemade projectiles.

Speaking to his Cabinet on Sunday, Israel’s outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said the rocket fire had now “climbed to a level” that requires Israel to respond. “We shall not signal in advance to the terrorists how we are going to respond, where we are going to respond or when we are going to respond, but we shall respond,” Olmert said.

Hamas has not taken responsibility for any of the new attacks, which have been claimed by smaller militant groups. But Israel says it holds Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since seizing power in June 2007, responsible for all attacks emanating from Gaza.

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