SIR - I thought that I would take this opportunity to clarify what it is that Hamas are actually firing into Israel, as several of your correspondents appear to be under the misapprehension that these are little more than “fireworks”.

Hamas have the ‘home-made’ Qasam or Iranian produced Grad artillery rockets, enhanced at the Hamas workshops. They can reach 11-12 miles into the Israeli area and carry the warhead equivalent of an artillery shell. They also have 122mm standard artillery rockets produced by China.

These have a range of up to 25 miles. In addition, they acquired a number of 302mm M302 rockets from Syria. These have a range of up to 132 miles and carry a warhead of 386lb which can be a cluster munition. These are what are being fired at Hadera and other cities. They are not accurate and are intended to be fired en masse at a single target, but if one gets past Iron Dome and lands on your house it will really spoil your day.

I wont try to comment on the rights and wrongs of the situation, other than to ask what the Hamas leadership, who are not fools, thinks it has to gain by provoking a predictable response from Israel in the expectation of incurring large numbers of civilian casualties - and who, if anybody, is lurking in the background pulling the strings?

Does anyone wish to speculate?

G Hutton, Oakdale Drive, Bradford