Arutz Sheva got a chance on Monday at the start of the school year to speak with Ido Aharonovich, Principal of the AMIT Yud High School in Ashdod and an IDF commander who served in Operation Protective Edge.

"It's not easy but it's very important for all the students to talk about what happened to them, and all the country, in the last summer," commented Aharonovich, noting on the hardships the southern town endured under a constant rocket barrage from Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Aharonovich added that a former student was killed during the operation; his sister is currently enrolled in the school's 12th grade.

Apparently the principal was referring to IDF soldier Sgt. Natanel Maman hy''d, who was was critically wounded on August 22 while on home leave after a rocket hit Gan Yavneh in the Ashdod area. Last Friday Maman succumbed to his wounds and died.

However, despite the sadness and loss the students are "very happy" to return to the routine and reality according to the principal, who noted "the students are very excited to meet their friends."

Ashdod was inflicted considerable damage in the operation, with a synagogue suffering a direct hit, wounding three residents, on the same day Maman was critically wounded.

The city was also the scene early in the operation in July of a direct hit on a gas station, which set a fuel tanker truck filled with 35,000 liters of benzine fuel on fire. Officials described it as a "huge miracle" that the tanker did not explode, given that such a blast would have inflicted massive damage and casualties.