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Rocket attacks on southern Israel from Gaza have increased dramatically following the opening of peace talks in the region, especially this week when the talks took place Sept. 14 and 15.

Hamas militants in Gaza have threatened to derail the talks, and the Israeli military said eight mortars and one rocket hit Israel by mid-afternoon on the 15th — the highest daily total since March 2009. There were no injuries.

Police said that two of the shells contained phosphorus, which causes severe burns and has been banned by the Geneva Conventions.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton chats with (from left) Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Egypt Sept. 14. photo/jta/gpo/flash 90/moshe milner

In response, Israel’s air force bombed a terrorist tunnel in southern Gaza the same day, according to the Israeli military. The tunnel was used to smuggle terrorists into Israel to commit attacks against Israelis, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. Palestinian sources said that at least one Palestinian was killed.

In Jerusalem, little more than an hour’s drive from Gaza, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Israeli and Palestinian leaders were “getting down to business” on the major issues dividing them, though there was no sign they were any closer to resolving a looming crisis over Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Clinton was in Jerusalem on Sept. 15 for a second day of talks aimed in part at ending the impasse, a day after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a summit hosted by Egypt in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheik. The next day the group met in Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem.

But the talks ended Sept. 15 with no agreement on the whether Israel would resume construction of settlements in the West Bank.

George Mitchell, the U.S. envoy for Mideast peace efforts, emerged from the Sept. 15 evening session with Netanyahu and Abbas to say the talks had been encouraging but fell short of a breakthrough.

It was not clear when they would reconvene. Lower-level officials will meet next week to work out a plan for the next meeting, Mitchell said.

“The two leaders are not leaving the tough issues to the end of their discussions; they are tackling up front — and did so this evening — the issues that are at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he said. “We take this as a strong indicator of their belief that peace is possible and of their desire to conclude an agreement.”

However, Abbas had threatened to quit the talks if Israel ends its partial freeze on settlement construction.

The construction slowdown is set to expire Sept. 26, and Netanyahu is being pressed by many of his religious and nationalist allies in Israel’s coalition government to resume construction. Members of his own Likud Party recently took out ads in Israeli dailies demanding an end to the slowdown.

This week marked Abbas’ first visit for talks in Jerusalem in 18 months. The last time Abbas visited the official residence of the prime minister, Ehud Olmert was running the country.

Netanyahu, who greeted Abbas against a backdrop that included a Palestinian flag, described the negotiations as “a lot of work.”

The Palestinian leader signed the guestbook at the Prime Minister’s residence, writing that he is back at the site after a long absence to continue the negotiations, in the hopes of securing eternal peace in the entire region.

Abbas wrote that he especially wishes to secure peace “between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.”

JTA, the Associated Press and Ynetnews.com contributed to this report.