\"We have to pray for Ariel over the next 48 hours.\" So said Yossi Yered, father of baby Ariel Yered, who was seriously injured in yesterday\'s Arab mortar attack on the Gush Katif community of Atzmona. The infant - hospitalized in the Soroka Hospital\'s intensive care unit - is still listed in \"critical\" condition. Yered told Arutz-7\'s Uzi Baruch today that he was hopeful this morning when the baby opened his eyes for a short time and moved one of his legs. \"Ariel still has shrapnel lodged in his head,\" said Yered, \"and the doctors do not yet know what degree of damage it has caused; my wife, too, still has shrapnel in two parts of her body; I understand that people can live like this until 120...We know that people are praying for us and reciting Psalms - A simple \'thank you\' to all those people is insufficient..The medical staff here is helping God do His miracles....\" Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that this past Monday, a number of mortar shells fell in an open field near Atzmona. Since nobody was hurt in that incident, the IDF decided not to investigate further. In response to the Arab mortar attack, Gush Katif residents demonstrated this morning at the Gush Katif junction. One of the protesters was arrested.



The heavy IDF helicopter-led retaliation on PLO targets last night did not put an end to Arab mortar attacks. Towards morning, four Arab-fired mortar shells landed in an open area just outside of the Jewish community of Netzarim. In response, IDF tanks fired back at PLO positions in Gaza city. According to reports, some fifteen mortar rockets were shot by IDF forces at a Force 17 training facility.