Two Lightly Hurt in Ashkelon Barrage

by Yaakov Katz
Jerusalem Post
December 31, 2008

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/564/two-lightly-hurt-in-ashkelon-barrage

Beersheba entered its second day on the front lines of the war in the South on Wednesday as Hamas stepped up Grad-type rocket attacks on the city. One of the rockets went through the roof of an empty school and fell inside a classroom, a day after a similar rocket caused extensive damage to a kindergarten.

Meanwhile, two people were lightly wounded when several Grad rockets were fired at Ashkelon. Earlier, Channel 2 reported that a Grad-type rockets had struck Route 6 at an unspecified location. No casualties were reported in that attack.

The attacks resumed at around 8:00 a.m., when a volley of rockets struck Beersheba. A number of people were treated for shock following the first barrage. Later, another rocket hit the center of of the city, the largest in the South.

Elsewhere, strikes were reported in the Sha'ar Hanegev region, the Eshkol region, the Yoav region, Sderot, Ofakim, and the area near Kiryat Gat and Kiryat Malachi, as well as in Ashkelon, Ashdod and Netivot. Gedera also reported a rocket strike, the first for the city.

At least 45 impact sites had been located by mid-morning.

Magen David Adom (MDA) announced that as of Wednesday evening it would establish a high state of alert throughout the country due to the widening radius of Israeli towns and cities within the range of Hamas's rockets. MDA said that its forces would be backed by hundreds of volunteers and over 6,000 ambulances countrywide. Such a scope of active forces was "unprecedented in the history of the organization," MDA said.

The attacks also prompted the Home Front Command to instruct Beersheba residents to stay within secured areas and await further instructions.

Almost all schools within a 40 kilometer radius from the Gaza Strip were heeding a recommendation by the Home Front Command not to conduct studies, bringing the total number of pupils affected to nearly 180,000.

On Tuesday night, Hamas targeted Beersheba for the first time. One Katyusha rocket struck an empty kindergarten in the city, causing damage to the building. Another rocket hit outside the city in an open field.

The IDF bombed the launcher of the Grad-model rockets afterward, as well as the cell responsible. The army said it successfully hit its target.

Defense officials had warned that Hamas had the ability to fire rockets into Beersheba - located some 40 kilometers from Gaza - but Tuesday night's attack was the first time the city's 200,000 residents came under Hamas rocket fire.

Earlier on Tuesday, rockets struck Ashdod and Ashkelon, where two people were killed in attacks on Monday. Grad-model Katyushas also hit open fields near Kiryat Malachi.

In total, more than 50 rockets struck the South on Tuesday, with one scoring a direct hit on a home in Sderot. No one was wounded in the attack, as the family had taken refuge in a nearby secure room.

Related Topics:  Palestinian Rockets  |  Yaakov Katz receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free jewish policy center mailing list