Hamas has succeeded in developing an indigenous variant of the Soviet-origin Katyusha rocket. Israeli military sources said Hamas has developed and fired a BM-21 Grad rocket that matched or exceeded the capabilities of the original weapon. They said the Palestinian variant of the Grad reached a range of more than 20 kilometers.On July 18, Palestinian gunners fired an indigenous Grad 122 mm rocket to an Israeli agricultural community about 19 kilometers from the Gaza Strip. The rocket landed in Kibbutz Sdot Bror Hayil and nobody was seriously injured. The military sources said the Palestinian rocket traveled 24 kilometers, a range that exceeded the standard 122 mm Katyusha, with a range of about 20 kilometers. They said Hamas was expected to begin serial production of the indigenous Katyusha over the next few weeks.
