No End to Rocket Attacks in Israel
By Tzippe Barrow
CBN News - Jerusalem Bureau
May 17, 2007
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Palestinian terrorists in Gaza launched at least 15 Kassam rockets at the besieged Israeli city of Sderot Thursday, hitting a high school and a greenhouse in another Israeli community in the western Negev. Scores of rockets have fallen in the area this week, forcing thousands of residents to seek shelter elsewhere.
Two rockets hit the high school in the Shaar HaNegev Regional Council as students met in fortified classrooms to take their matriculation exams in mathematics.
The Kassams damaged an unfortified section of the building and lightly injured two people. Several others suffered shock.
Alon Shuster, head of the Shaar HaNegev Regional Council, said students were instructed to remain in the fortified rooms.
"Only students who had to take their matriculation exams came to school today, and they were place in fortified classrooms," said Shuster.
Sderot in the Crosshairs
Thursday morning, three Kassams landed in Sderot, damaging a car and causing other structural damage. A mother and her nine year-old daughter were treated for shock.
Thursday evening, one of several rockets that landed in the city set a factory on fire.
Officials from the Defense Ministry arrived in Sderot today to help more than 750 residents leave the area for a "respite holiday," not a permanent evacuation.
The mayor of Sderot, Eli Moyal, also said the exodus was temporary.
"All rumors about the town being evacuated are ungrounded spins," said the mayor.
Some residents will stay in Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) recreation facilities throughout the country, some have been taken into private residences, and others are in hotels in Beersheva and the port city of Ashod, just north of Ashkelon.
Yesterday, Israeli businessman Arcadi Gadamak provided eight buses to transport beleaguered Sderot families to hotels in Ashod and Beersheva for a few days of rest from the daily rocket attacks.
Meanwhile, defense officials warn that Hamas may begin using the longer-range, Soviet-manufactured Grad missiles -- with a range of 14 miles compared to the 7.5-mile range of Kassam rockets -- to target Ashkelon, which houses one of the country's major electric generating stations and its only up-and-running desalination plant.
With a population of 110,000, the city is not yet protected by the kind of warning system in place in Sderot, which at times has failed to operate properly.
Israel responds
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's promise of a "harsh and severe" response to the attacks gained momentum Thursday afternoon as the Israeli Air Force (IAF) launched several simultaneous air strikes on Hamas operatives in Gaza, effectively marking the end of the policy of restraint in place since November. Four Palestinians were killed in the strikes.
An air strike on the guard post outside the home of Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Helai killed one of his bodyguards. A direct hit on a vehicle in central Gaza critically injured the commander of a Kassam manufacturing team, who was transporting rockets and other weapons. And an air strike on Hamas security headquarters in Gaza City left one dead and 30 injured.
Also on Thursday, for the first time since November's cease-fire, the IDF sent several tanks into northern Gaza to destroy rocket launching sites near Beit Lahiya.
Hamas vowed to dispatch suicide bombers into Israel.
As Israel responds to Hamas' stated objective of "defeating the Zionist entity," it must carefully weigh every move.
Sources: YNet news, The Jerusalem Post
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