Two rockets were fired on Sunday at the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, located near the border with Lebanon. No casualties or damage were reported.

It was not clear who was responsible for the rocket fire. Israeli artillery forces fired in response at targets in southern Lebanon.

The explosions were heard a few hours after Israel approved the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners, as part of the U.S.-brokered peace talks.

Residents of Kiryat Shmona and the area reported hearing loud blasts early Sunday morning.

„At about 7 A.M., while I was driving to work with two of my friends, we heard a loud blast,” Yitzhak Tyson, a resident of Kiryat Shmona, told Haaretz. „When we arrived at work we heard the second explosion.”

The military confirmed that two rockets, apparently Russian-made Katyushas, exploded in an open area west of the city.

This is the first time northern Israel has been hit by rocket fire since August, when four Katyushas were fired from Lebanon. The Israel Air Force responded to that rocket fire by attacking a target south of Beirut.

Two weeks ago, an Israeli soldier was killed while driving along the border with Lebanon. He was struck by six or seven bulleted fired from a relatively short distance by a Lebanese soldier.