The Gush Katif community of Netzer Hazani was witness to a traumatic event this past Shabbat: A mortar shell fired by Palestinian terrorists landed in the middle of a clubhouse yard, and within seconds turned a scene of relaxing youth into one of blood-filled panic and screams. The teenagers who were inside the clubhouse at the time were spared the physical injuries, and treated their friends who soon began making their way into the room, bleeding heavily from their various wounds. In the words of a soldier who soon arrived on the scene, \"I couldn\'t believe what I saw. Boys and girls lying on the floor in their blood, and their friends coolly saving their lives by stopping the bleeding with their bare hands ...\"



Of the five youths who were wounded, three are still hospitalized. Eitan (ben Michal) Matzliach, 17, has one shrapnel fragment near his spine, one near his tonsils, and many others in his legs; he is in constant pain and cannot yet walk. Amichai (ben Aliza) Yifrach, 16, has been operated on in his stomach, but still has shrapnel near his liver and he may have to undergo another operation. He, too, suffers from great pain from the fragments lodged in his legs. Dalit (bat Malka) Mordechai, 15, suffers from a fragment in her foot, and cannot yet walk. All the children and youth, about 40 in all, who witnessed the attack and its aftermath are being treated by the post-trauma psychologists of Kiryat Shmonah; the adults will be treated next week.



Government ministers and Knesset Members have visited or will visit Netzer Hazani this week, including the Knesset Interior Committee, Minister of Social Services Shlomo Benizri, and Minister of Religious Affairs Asher Ochana. \"Unfortunately [they] brought no message from the government,\" one resident later reported. \"We tried to explain that beyond the life-threatening situation, our farmers have no way to feed their families as the security conditions make it impossible to work regularly in the farms... Businesses are collapsing. The daily sounds of war in every direction - the sounds and tremors of mortar and other heavy weapons - are no longer emotionally bearable when you know that those you depend on to protect you are not doing so... We have no one left to turn to, we lean only on G-d Almighty and pray for His salvation!\"