The scene of rocket impact in Sderot, Tuesday
(Video: Roee Idan)
Residents of Sderot and communities in the Gaza envelope once again found themselves rushing to bomb shelters within minutes, following the death of Khader Adnan, a senior Islamic Jihad operative in the West Bank who died in Israeli prison after an 86-day hunger strike.
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The massive barrage from Gaza Strip Tuesday afternoon coincided with the end of the school day while many parents were still at work. Meanwhile, after about 4.5 hours of relative calm, six mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip toward a small border community. No casualties or damage were reported.
Suddenly, the order came down from Homefront Command to stay near bomb shelters as the Israeli military responded to the morning’s rocket fire. This was followed by a barrage of 26 rockets.
A homeowner in Sderot told Ynet that his daughter, who was alone at home when she heard the siren, a rocket crashed in their backyard. "She was panicked, there was a big blast. I was at work when they called me, and my wife had just left for work. It’s a huge miracle that the rocket fell in the yard. A big miracle. She ran to the shelter."
Other locals couldn’t help but feel helpless as their daily routine was once again disrupted by rocket fire.
"We are not a puppet on a string that can be moved like this from routine to an emergency footing within seconds. Islamic Jihad is playing with us. Suddenly in the middle of the day, they throw us off balance," Ronit Kadosh from Sderot told Ynet, having arrived at a shopping center in the southern city after an hour after the rocket fire.
"What kind of reality is this? It's unbearable. All because some terrorist decided to starve himself to death. People are not aware of this situation, they have no idea what it does to children.”
The city of Sderot bore most of the brunt of the latest barrage, and some even crashed in residential areas within the city. However, an hour later they were already instructed to go back to normal. Shops reopened and the people, who are already grown accustomed to projectiles falling from the sky in broad daylight, crept out of the bomb shelters.
Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi, who participated just a week and a half ago in a special Cabinet meeting in his city, called on the political echelon to act and restore peace to the Gaza border region.
"It is time to stop mincing words. If there are clear and known goals, we must act and take care of them," he said.
"Twenty-two rockets were fired toward Sderot and the surrounding communities with the goal of murdering Israeli citizens, we cannot continue acting with restraint.
I once again call on the prime minister, the defense minister, and the Cabinet to eliminate the heads of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. We operate in places much farther afield, but a kilometer from here we do not do enough to prevent the rocket launches toward Sderot and the surrounding area."
Barzilai Medical Center in neighboring Ashkelon received seven casualties after Tuesday afternoon's attack. One was a Chinese foreign worker who was severely wounded from shrapnel when a rocket crashed at a construction site where he was working. His condition later improved and was considered moderate. Two other colleagues of his also suffered light injuries from shrapnel.
Several parking vehicles were damaged by shrapnel. Magen David Adom ambulance service reported that several people suffered from shock, and a 49-year-old woman was lightly injured when she slipped and fell on the way to the bomb shelter.
A collective of Gaza terrorist factions claimed responsibility for the attack and added that "this is a first response" for the death of Adnan.
"We will remain committed to our fallen and our prisoners, and this issue will always remain a top priority," the group said in a statement. "We warn the enemy that any foolish actions they may take will not go unanswered, the resistance is fully prepared."
Defense Minister Yaov Gallant after the attack warned that "whoever tries to harm Israeli citizens will be sorry."