A mortar shell launched from the southern Gaza Strip landed in Kibbutz Nirim near the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday evening, causing no injuries but reportedly resulting in minor damage.

The Israeli Air Force said that a preliminary investigation into the incident found the projectile was not intercepted due to human error. The military said it was learning lessons from the incident and corrective measures were already being put into action.

The launch of the single projectile, around 9 p.m. on Sunday, triggered sirens in the border community just a week after its residents were permitted to return home after more than 20 months of displacement as a result of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

Nirim was one of seven evacuated communities in which the government last week approved the return of their residents, out of the 13 hardest-hit in the Hamas onslaught.

The Ynet news site reported that the impact was in the kibbutz’s new young people’s neighborhood, which is being constructed after the previous one was largely destroyed in the October 7 attack.

Ynet reported that the shell caused minor damage to several buildings that are in the process of being renovated and rebuilt, but that no one currently lives in them.

Michal Uziyahu, head of the area’s Eshkol Regional Council, said in a statement: “We will not accept a situation of continued fire on our territory, and we expect an investigation into the failure, by which no interception was carried out.”

She added that the council demands a “determination to change the security reality, and we still have no doubt that we must do everything to reach a deal that will end the fighting, and return our loved ones home,” referring to a potential hostage-truce agreement with Hamas.

A day earlier, on Saturday, two rockets were launched from Gaza, triggering sirens in the border community of Kissufim. Both rockets were intercepted, and there were no reports of injuries or damage.

Rocket attacks, while common in the early days of the war — including nonstop barrages during the Hamas invasion itself — have largely ceased in recent months.

During the October 7 attack on Nirim, five civilians were murdered inside the kibbutz, while five others were abducted to Gaza — three of whom were released in November 2023 while the other two were murdered in captivity and their bodies later recovered by the military.

Ten IDF soldiers and officers were killed in the attack on the Nirim area, including at a nearby army post. Six of the slain troops were abducted to Gaza, along with two other soldiers who were taken alive by the terrorists.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.