A barrage of four Kassam rockets slammed into the western Negev city of Sderot and the surrounding area on Friday afternoon, followed by another Kassam rocket landing in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council less than an hour later. No one was injured and no damage was caused in the Eshkol Region.
Nine mortar shells had been fired at the western Negev in several attacks earlier in the day; three of the shells slamming into the area less than an hour before the rocket barrage. A building at a kibbutz near Sderot was damaged in one of the attacks, but no one was wounded.
The attacks punctuated the funeral of 51-year-old Amnon Rozenberg, a member of Kibbutz Nirim who was killed in a deadly mortar attack by Hamas terrorists Thursday on Kibbutz Nir Oz.
One of the Kassams exploded near Sapir College, on the outskirts of Sderot, damaging a building on the campus as well as six cars. A second rocket slammed into the city itself.
A 50-year-old man was injured when he fell while running for cover in Sderot during the attack. He was taken by Magen David Adom medics to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, along with several others who suffered from severe emotional shock.
The third and fourth homemade short-range missiles exploded in open fields around the area. Firefighter spokesman Moshe Amar said that a number of buildings and vehicles in the area were damaged as well.
One of the mortar shells fired earlier in the day exploded near the Gaza security barrier. Two others hit the Ashkelon Coastal Region.
Sapir College Students Demand Government Action
Students at Sapir College expressed outrage at the latest attack, pointing out the difficulty faced by those who enter the classrooms each day not knowing whether they will have to make a run for cover to avoid another deadly attack.
David Brenner, chairman of the Sapir College Student Association, said the group is demanding that "the government find an immediate solution to the absurd situation we have been in for the past eight years."
Brenner noted that five percent of Israel's college student population studies at Sapir, adding, "They do so in order to be at the front of academics – not on a military front."
IDF Kills 1 Terrorist, Wounds 17 Others in Gaza
IDF soldiers killed a Hamas terrorist and wounded at least 17 others during counterterrorism operations which started late Thursday night in retaliation for a deadly mortar attack on a kibbutz earlier in the day.
The Hamas gunman was killed in central Gaza in a skirmish that started when IDF tanks and bulldozers entered Gaza on Friday. Two other terrorists were wounded in the exchange as well, according to Hamas sources.
In a separate attack, some 15 people were wounded in an IAF air strike on a Hamas terrorist base in the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiyeh. Gaza doctors said there were civilians among the injured. Beit Lahiyeh is a popular spot from which terrorists often launch deadly Kassam rocket attacks on Israeli communities.
The targeted building was completely destroyed and several others in the area were damaged as well, according to local witnesses.
Soldier Wounded by Gaza Sniper
A sniper shot an IDF soldier who was working in an area along the separation barrier in northern Gaza early Friday morning. The soldier, who suffered moderate wounds, was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva.
The soldier was carrying out engineering work at the time of the attack.