The rocket slammed into an empty classroom to which children would have gone after their prayers. It landed directly on the teacher’s empty seat. The classroom was heavily damaged, as were the nearby restrooms.
Miraculously, no one was injured, although one person was treated for shock. The Red Dawn warning system gave residents less than a minute to take cover.
In a second attack, two women were treated for shock when a rocket landed near the Givim junction in the western Negev.
Later in the day, a third Kassam rocket landed near Kibbutz Zikkim, also in the western Negev. The Red Dawn warning system at Netiv Haasara gave residents a 20-second warning. No injuries or damage were reported.
In response to the attack, the Israeli cabinet voted on Sunday to allocate NIS 52 million ($11.7 million) to fortify the schools in Sderot and other communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
Scores of rocket attacks have been launched from northern Gaza since the expulsion of Jewish communities from Gush Katif last summer, raining down on what have become the new “border communities”.
According to the Ynet news service, Home Front Command officials said schools were advised not to use classrooms on the top floors of schools near the Gaza border in case of a direct hit. “The instruction was backed by the regional council head,” said the source, “but the schools are not implementing it.”
A new technology was recently developed that would fortify roofs against Kassam rockets. Southern community leaders have demanded the government install the system in their schools and community centers. Despite months of delays, meetings and protests, however, the demands appeared to have fallen on deaf ears until Sunday’s attack.
“The lives of the children in the schools and kindergarten should be top priority,” said Defense Minister and Labor party Chairman Amir Peretz, who lives in Sderot. He ordered the IDF and Defense Ministry Director-General Jacob Toren to prepare an immediate protection plan.
Kadima Knesset member Shai Hermesh - who lives in Kfar Aza - said that Sunday morning’s attack was “another warning sign of the risk hidden in delaying the fortification of education institutions, which is being conducted sluggishly”.
“There are at least three education campuses in the range of the Kassams and their fortification should have been conducted in parallel to the Gaza evacuation,” he said. He added that there is no fortification plan at all for some education institutions.
The original fortification plan for southern communities cost NIS 1 billion ($224 million), but only 20-percent of that was approved and schools were excluded from the program, according to Ynet.
Thus far, NIS 210 million ($47 million) has been approved, with much of the budget focused on Nahal Oz, Kerem Shalom and Nativ Haasara, all located near the Gaza border.
Fortification is expensive; some NIS 4 million ($896 thousand) was spent on the ceiling of one school in Sderot.
It is now slated to be installed primarily in kindergartens for children age six and under. Some of the construction has been completed, with some NIS 158 million ($35 million) received by the Home Front Command until now.
Miraculously, no one was injured, although one person was treated for shock. The Red Dawn warning system gave residents less than a minute to take cover.
In a second attack, two women were treated for shock when a rocket landed near the Givim junction in the western Negev.
Later in the day, a third Kassam rocket landed near Kibbutz Zikkim, also in the western Negev. The Red Dawn warning system at Netiv Haasara gave residents a 20-second warning. No injuries or damage were reported.
In response to the attack, the Israeli cabinet voted on Sunday to allocate NIS 52 million ($11.7 million) to fortify the schools in Sderot and other communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
Scores of rocket attacks have been launched from northern Gaza since the expulsion of Jewish communities from Gush Katif last summer, raining down on what have become the new “border communities”.
According to the Ynet news service, Home Front Command officials said schools were advised not to use classrooms on the top floors of schools near the Gaza border in case of a direct hit. “The instruction was backed by the regional council head,” said the source, “but the schools are not implementing it.”
A new technology was recently developed that would fortify roofs against Kassam rockets. Southern community leaders have demanded the government install the system in their schools and community centers. Despite months of delays, meetings and protests, however, the demands appeared to have fallen on deaf ears until Sunday’s attack.
“The lives of the children in the schools and kindergarten should be top priority,” said Defense Minister and Labor party Chairman Amir Peretz, who lives in Sderot. He ordered the IDF and Defense Ministry Director-General Jacob Toren to prepare an immediate protection plan.
Kadima Knesset member Shai Hermesh - who lives in Kfar Aza - said that Sunday morning’s attack was “another warning sign of the risk hidden in delaying the fortification of education institutions, which is being conducted sluggishly”.
“There are at least three education campuses in the range of the Kassams and their fortification should have been conducted in parallel to the Gaza evacuation,” he said. He added that there is no fortification plan at all for some education institutions.
The original fortification plan for southern communities cost NIS 1 billion ($224 million), but only 20-percent of that was approved and schools were excluded from the program, according to Ynet.
Thus far, NIS 210 million ($47 million) has been approved, with much of the budget focused on Nahal Oz, Kerem Shalom and Nativ Haasara, all located near the Gaza border.
Fortification is expensive; some NIS 4 million ($896 thousand) was spent on the ceiling of one school in Sderot.
It is now slated to be installed primarily in kindergartens for children age six and under. Some of the construction has been completed, with some NIS 158 million ($35 million) received by the Home Front Command until now.