The mayor of the southern city of Sderot called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately move to evacuate residents of the city for at least 10 days to areas outside the immediate range of rockets from Gaza. "I receive calls from residents all day, begging to be evacuated," he said.
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Alon Davidi spoke to reporters as the city came under renewed fire and at least four people were hurt, two of them seriously. Sderot is within range of mortar fire but has been pounded by rockets since the early morning hours on Saturday when the Hamas terrorists launched their murderous attack.
All agricultural communities in the border area, many having suffered severe destruction and loss of life in heinous acts of murder, were evacuated to allow the IDF freedom to clear the area from any terrorists remaining in Israeli territory or terror squads attempting to infiltrate from Gaza, after parts of the border had been destroyed.
"We've been taking rocket fire for years, but the events of Saturday have broken our resident's spirits," a city official said. "The terrorists have destroyed our sense of security.
On Saturday, 10 armed Hamas terrorists attacked the Sderot police station and after taking some 30 of its force captive waged a 20-hour battle with troops. all of the policemen were killed and the military destroyed the structure, bringing down on top of the terrorists inside.
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The body of a terrorist removed from the Sderot police station after it was under siege
(Photo: Menahem Kahana / AFP)
Davidy said half of the city's population left, since the start of the war. "We are currently with 405 to 45% of our residents," he said adding that evacuating the remaining families would "be life-saving for them and would free the military and police forces to address the security needs without having to attend to injured civilians," the mayor said adding he has been trying to raise funds to house his residents in hotels outside the immediate line of fire.
In the city's own efforts to offer residents an alternative, placing the elderly, and people who live alone. On Wednesday, he was able to evacuate families with small children or those with special needs.
In an interview on Kan radio, one mother who lives in Sderot said her children have refused to leave the protected area of their apartment, even to use the bathroom, since Saturday. "They are too traumatized," the mother said, her voice breaking.