JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's army says two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip just hours ahead of Ariel Sharon's funeral but they did not appear to have landed in Israel. 
 
 Israeli soldiers from a paratroopers unit rehearse at the grave site for late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who will be buried next to his wife, outside his ranch in Havat Hashikmim, southern Israel,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Israeli soldiers from a paratroopers unit rehearse at the grave site for late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who will be buried next to his wife, outside his ranch in Havat Hashikmim, southern Israel,... (Associated Press) 
 
 The location in southern Israel where former Israeli Prime Minister Sharon is to be buried later Monday is within range of rockets from the Palestinian territory and rockets in the past have hit the area. 
 
 The military says Monday's rocket fire caused no injuries or damage. Israeli media said the rockets were fired into the sea. 
 
 Media in Israel also say the Iron Dome anti-missile system has been deployed near Sharon's ranch in southern Israel to protect against rockets during the funeral. The military declined to comment. 
 
 Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says increased police forces have been deployed for Sharon's funeral. ||||| Israel beefed up security for former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral near the Gaza border on Monday and warned the enclave's Palestinian rulers not to allow rocket fire during the ceremony, which US Vice President Joe Biden will attend. 
 
 Sharon died at the age of 85 on Saturday after eight years in a coma caused by a stroke. A memorial service will be held on Monday in parliament in Jerusalem and an afternoon funeral near the Sharon family farm some 10 km (6 miles) from Gaza. 
 
 The United States was among 18 countries to send delegations to the state ceremony for Sharon in Jerusalem. The White House said Biden would also travel to the burial at Sycamore Farm's Poppy Hill, in the southern Negev desert. 
 
 An Israeli security source said Israel had "passed the message" to Gazan authorities to prevent any rocket fire during the funeral. Gaza is governed by Hamas Islamists who fought several times with Israel over the past few years. 
 
 "It was made clear to them that tomorrow would be a very bad day for anyone there to test Israel's patience," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 
 
 There was no immediate response from the Hamas government or other armed Palestinian factions. Egyptian officials, who in the past have served as mediators between Israel and Gaza, were unavailable for comment. 
 
 A Reuters correspondent heard two explosions in northern Gaza on Monday morning which sounded like rocket impacts. An Israeli military spokeswoman said there had been no launches across the border. Israeli media said the blasts appeared to have resulted from Palestinian militants testing their weapons. 
 
 At times of heightened tension Israel steps up aerial patrols of Gaza with combat helicopters and drones designed to spot Palestinian rocket crews and hit them with guided missiles before they can carry out launches. 
 
 Security sources said Israel had deployed an Iron Dome rocket interceptor near Sycamore Farm, which has been hit by Gaza-launched rockets in the past. 
 
 The rockets are often inaccurate and carry small warheads, causing relatively little damage. When fired in salvoes they spread panic and paralyse routine life in south Israel. 
 
 How to handle Gaza is among the sticking points in Israel's US-sponsored peace negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas's rival based in the occupied West Bank. 
 
 During his brief visit to Israel, Biden will discuss the so far fruitless diplomatic efforts with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, U.S. officials said. 
 
 The vice president will also seek to ease Netanyahu's concerns about world powers' interim nuclear deal with Israel's arch-foe Iran, which takes effect on 20 January. 
 
 Biden is seen by Israel and its US supporters as one of its best friends in Washington in a career dating back to his decades on Capitol Hill, where he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before assuming the vice presidency. 
 
 Israel's Army Radio said there had been no intelligence indications that Palestinians were planning to shell Sharon's funeral. Yet authorities braced for any surprise. 
 
 "We are taking the full range of possible scenarios into account," southern police commander Yoram Halevy told the station. "The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is prepared, informed and ready to respond if so required." 
 
 Since a 2012 eight-day war with Israel, which killed some 170 Palestinians and six Israelis, Hamas has largely held fire but smaller militant groups have occasionally challenged its authority with their own rocket attacks into the Jewish state.
– Israel has paid its final respects to divisive former leader Ariel Sharon, who died over the weekend after eight years in a coma. World leaders and Israeli officials gathered for a state memorial service in Jerusalem, which will be followed by a second funeral service at the Sharon family ranch near the Gaza border where he will be buried next to his wife, reports the Guardian. The Israeli military says two rockets were fired from Gaza just before the service but they do not appear to have landed in Israel, the AP reports. Critics denounce Sharon as a war criminal but funeral speakers including Joe Biden and Tony Blair were full of praise at the Jerusalem service, reports Reuters. Biden paid tribute to Sharon's decision to pull out of the Gaza Strip, while acknowledging that he had serious differences with US leaders. "The security of his people was always Arik's unwavering mission—an unbreakable commitment to the future of Jews, whether 30 years or 300 years from now," Biden said, describing Sharon as a complex man who lived in complex times. "Arik was never uncertain. But there were times when he acted, and those actions earned him controversy and even condemnation," he said. "And in certain instances American leaders, American presidents, had profound differences with him. And they were never shy about stating them. Nor was he ever shy about stating his position."