JERUSALEM, (AFP) – Gaza-based militants fired four rockets into southern Israel over the weekend, a military spokesman said on Sunday.

None of them caused any casualties or damage, the spokesman said, adding that since the start of the year around 90 rockets or mortar rounds had been fired into southern Israel.

In December 2008, Israel launched a devastating assault on Gaza in a bid to halt near daily rocket fire from the besieged Palestinian territory.

Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the 22-day war.

After a year of quiet following the assault, Gaza militants have recently stepped up the cross-border rocket fire.