About a month ago, nearly six months after it began, the IDF's operation in the Gaza Strip effectively concluded. Following this, the IDF took control of the Rafah border crossing and repositioned its forces in Jabaliya and the Zeitoun district of Gaza City. Meanwhile, as IDF forces re-entered areas previously contested with Hamas in the Palestinian enclave, rocket attacks on southern cities resumed.
In the past 48 hours, two of the largest cities in the south and another city that has been grappling with rocket attacks for over two decades have been targeted. This occurred after a significant decrease in rocket launches from the Gaza Strip in previous months. Yet, it is now clear that this threat persists, even after over seven months of war. The data substantiates this.
Gilat shields her children with her body amid rocket sirens in Sderot
While missile and rocket attacks from Hezbollah in the north continue unabated, paired with IDF's strikes in southern Lebanon, the frequency of launches from Gaza has markedly decreased since the onset of the war. From over 4,000 sirens on October 7 and over 200 each in the subsequent nine weeks, the number has been dwindling, with less than 70 sirens per week by January.
The decrease was even more pronounced in February, with only a few sirens each week until recent days. However, there was a shift when the IDF entered Rafah, Zeitoun, and Jabaliya, or slightly prior, when Hamas realized an incursion into Rafah was imminent - potentially also prompted by their intent to utilize rockets and launchers before they could be eliminated by incoming forces.
The frequency of alarms in Kerem Shalom in the Eshkol Regional Council, the Israeli settlement nearest to Rafah, distinctly illustrates this. From December 11 until the beginning of this month, spanning nearly five months, not a single red alert was sounded. From May 5, a day before the entry into Rafah, sirens were heard almost daily in the settlement, totaling seven times a week.
IDF destroys Hamas Launching pads after Be'er Sheva sirens
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
In Be'er Sheva, barring an alarm due to missile and rocket fire from Iran, there have been no sirens since December 6. Last Friday, sirens were heard twice, at 17:33 and 19:15. "We had become accustomed to the absence of sirens. It was unexpected. They took us by surprise," stated a city resident near whose house a rocket detonated.
A sibling of another city resident, whose apartment was damaged, added, "It's a perpetual fear that haunts us. We are in an endless war." The initial round was fired from the center of the Strip, the second from Rafah - and an alarm was heard in the vicinity, near the city, the following day.
Ashkelon, which was the most frequently targeted city in the first month of the war, experienced two alarms in February, none in March, two in April, and two more on the last day, at 1:10 at night and at 14:12. The first rocket inflicted substantial damage on an unoccupied apartment and slightly injured three people.
In Sderot, which has been confronting rockets from Gaza for over 20 years, a red alert was issued twice in February, four times in March, and five times in April. This month, an alarm was sounded on May 6, and another three today - two within an hour at 4:00 PM and 5:05 pm, and another one minutes after the memorial siren. During the 8:05 pm shooting, one rocket was intercepted, and the other crashed in an unpopulated area outside the city. This happened after many of the city's residents had returned in recent months, following months of displacement.
The afternoon alarm in Sderot caught Gilat Cohen from Sderot and her three children - Anael, 4.5, Noga, 3 and Ahuvi, one and nine months - on their way home from kindergarten.
"We were driving home in the car. We passed the fortified bus station, and then there was a red alert," Gilat told Ynet. "I stopped the car, and my brilliant kids already knew what to do. They opened the door and lay down. I lay on top of them. We always recite a verse from Isaiah whenever there's a red alert."