Terrorists in Gaza fired a mortar at southern Israel Sunday evening. It exploded within the Eshkol local authority, hurting no one.
Earlier Sunday, in a response to a High Court motion filed by the Ashkelon Municipality and the city's parents' council, the State Attorney said that Ashkelon should not receive preferential treatment in fortification against Arab missile attack.
The petitioners said that fortification of educational institutions in Ashkelon was incomplete and demanded that the State finish the job it started, citing promises made to this effect by government representatives.
The State Attorney denied that the state had promised Ashkelon that it would be preferred over other cities in the matter of fortification.
After the court intervened in the matter, the State said, the Deputy Defense Minister met with the mayor of Ashkelon, Benny Vaknin, and listened to his position. The Deputy Defense Minister then quoted Vaknin's statements before the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Fortification, which decided to reject the municipality's request. The Deputy Defense Minister agreed, however, to conduct a survey regarding the fortification situation in the city.
The head of the IDF's Home Front Command told the court that Ashkelon was no different from other locations at a similar range from Gaza as far as its fortification needs. A decision to carry out fortification had only been made with regard to the “Gaza Belt,” which includes the communities that are no more than 7 kilometers away from Gaza.