Palestinian Authority terrorists murdered 32-year-old Shirel Feldman in Sderot Monday night with a Kassam rocket attack that scored a direct hit on her car as she stood next to it near a bakery in the center of town. Ms. Feldman was pronounced dead on arrival at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon after suffering severe injuries to her chest and stomach. She bled to death as Magen David Adom paramedics raced to the hospital in a desperate attempt to save her life. One man suffered shrapnel wounds and was listed in fair condition, another suffered light injuries and 12 people were treated for shock in the same attack. 

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The rocket, one of a barrage of five aimed at the western Negev, slammed into the commercial shopping area in the center of town shortly before 8:00 p.m. while business owners were meeting to discuss the situation. Most businesses were closed as a result, minimizing what might otherwise have become a mammoth disaster.

The Color Red missile alert system failed to sound the warning that rockets were on the way.

Hear two hours of LIVE broadcast from Sderot, with Yishai Fleisher and Tamar Yonah:

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Two other Kassams landed south of Ashkelon and the other two exploded in open areas the western Negev. By 10:30 p.m., another five rockets had been fired. Two slammed into an area next to a western Negev kibbut. The others fell in various open areas around the region.



Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana were meeting in Sderot at the time of the attack.  Neither one was hurt.  Ms. Livni told reporters at a news conference in the besieged town that a ceasefire with Hamas is not an option, as far as Israel is concerned. The foreign minister noted that Hamas considers a ceasefire an opportunity to rearm and upgrade weapons supplies and terrorists training in anticipation of the next conflict.



Three terror organizations rushed to take the credit for this attack: Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Salah al-Din Brigades terror group, part of the Popular Resistance Committees terrorist organization.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had harsh words in a statement issued following the attack. "We will take whatever steps are necessary to stop the Kassam attacks," he warned, but did not elaborate on what those steps might be. The security cabinet gave a green light yesterday for the IDF to resume targeted assassinations, and government officials warned that Hamas Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and Hamas politburo chief and arch-terrorist Khaled Mashaal would not be immune from the attacks.

By midnight, a total of 25 rockets had rained down on the western Negev. Two more Kassams had exploded in Sderot, one in the industrial area and the other in the center of town, causing some damage but no injuries. Earlier in the evening, a rocket exploded among the fields near several farms in the region. The explosion ignited a pile of weeds and started a fire, but no damage or injuries were reported. A rocket landed near a gas station, another hit a greenhouse, setting it ablaze. Another slammed into a kibbutz south of Sderot.