Four Kassam rockets were fired at the Western Negev city of Sderot Sunday morning, leaving one man dead. A rocket crashed into his car, and he suffered sharp gashes in his neck. The Israeli civilian crashed into a wall, was rushed to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, and died within an hour of his wounds.
Another person was lightly injured, and several people were treated for shock. School children waiting for buses to take them to their first day of classes outside of Kassam range in areas surrounding Sderot, panicked upon the sounding of the "Color Red" rocket alert.
Earlier in the morning, another two rockets landed in central Sderot, causing damage but no casualties.
Today's victim was Oshri Oz, 36, of Hod HaSharon, an employee of the Sderot-based "Peretz Bonei HaNegev" construction company. Survived by his pregnant wife and 3-year-old daughter, Oshri was Israel's tenth fatal casualty of a Kassam rocket in the past three years - and the second in the past week. Among the dead were three toddlers and a 17-year-old girl.
Two rockets hit Sderot Saturday night – one striking a house and destroying it and the other striking a building in the town's industrial area. Three landed just south of the city of Ashkelon. The rest landed in open areas. No injuries were reported, though several were treated for shock.
Ten Kassam rockets were fired Saturday at the western Negev from Gaza.
Israel Air Force Attacks
In response to ongoing Kassam attacks on the civilian population of Sderot and environs, the Israel Air Force carried out dozens of air strikes throughout Gaza over the weekend.
The Air Force first struck a Hamas operations center in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood and a training camp near the area of Shati. Five Hamas terrorists were killed and 23 injured in the strikes, according to PA reports.
Another strike, minutes after those in Gaza City, hit Hamas targets in Rafiah, on the southern tip of Gaza.
Later, a Hamas training camp at the destroyed Jewish town of N’vei Dekalim, a bit further north, was hit by IAF missiles. Another missile hit a Hamas post in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City in central-northern Gaza.
On Friday, seven air strikes were carried out in Gaza, in which Kassam rocket launchers riding in a vehicle were struck, killing two and injuring six. The explosion caused by the missile was followed by another explosion, caused presumably by explosives in the vehicle.
One missile struck a guard post opposite PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s Gaza home, though the IDF states that Haniyeh was not the target of the attack. The Hamas chief was not home at the time, but showed up shortly afterward in a jogging suit, though his guards whisked him away when IAF jets were heard overhead. A senior Hamas terror-chief in charge of Kassam cells died Saturday in a Gaza hospital after being wounded in an air strike last week.
Hamas threatened that if Israeli strikes continued, Israel "could forget about [captive soldier Gilad] Shalit." Shalit was captured by Hamas terrorists 11 months ago while guarding the Gaza-Israel border. Minister Rafi Eitan said that if a "hair on Shalit's head is harmed, Haniye himself [the prime minister of the Hamas Authority] will be hit."
Judea and Samaria
IDF forces arrested Hamas Cabinet Minister Wasfi Kabha from his home in Samaria Saturday. This brings to 34 the number of Hamas politicians arrested in the last week by the IDF.
A Fatah Al-Aksa Brigades terrorist, Raed Abdul Razek, was killed in a gun battle with IDF troops in Tubas, in northern Samaria. In internal Arab feuds, Al-Aksa Brigades terrorists stormed a PA security office on Saturday, opening fire on members of the Hamas-controlled militia inside, wounding seven.
IDF troops at the Hawara checkpoint outside Shechem found three pipe bombs in a PA Arab’s bag. The man was arrested.