Security officials in Gaza belt communities have begun sending text messages to residents’ cellular telephones to warn them to hide during mortar shell attacks, Yediot Acharonot reported Friday. There is no official warning system for incoming mortar shells as there is for short-range rockets, and residents of Gaza area communities have no time to run and hide in case of attack.
Local security experts said that the mortar shells used by Gaza terrorists in recent attacks were larger and more accurate than the mortar shells used in previous years. The newer shells cause far more damage, they said.