To date, Arab terrorists from Gaza have launched 5,235 mortar shells and rockets at Jewish targets since the year 2001.
Sderot residents plan on staging a citywide strike, closing all services and flying black flags, “so that the country will understand that the current situation can not and will not be tolerated any longer.”
The IDF has launched an anti-rocket operation in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza, but Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal says the small army incursions are not stopping the rockets and mortar shells. “For four years we restrained ourselves but that time is over. We just buried two residents from the terror attack at the Karni Crossing on Thursday; we have a young girl who is fighting for her life from a Kassam rocket that fell on a quiet neighborhood in Sderot right after the Sabbath, and today we are preparing for the funeral of one more resident who was killed at Karni.”
Moyal says that the Sderot residents decided after a special emergency meeting to declare Monday a “Day of Mourning” and to stage a protest march toward the Arab town of Beit Hanoun, just half a mile from Sderot, where the rockets are being fired from. “We want to wake up the government to do something to stop the firing of Kassam rockets.”
17-year-old Chaya Ella [bat Sima] Abukasis, wounded critically by a Kassam rocket Saturday night, is still being treated in Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva. Doctors report her condition to be improving. Her ten-year-old brother, who suffered a head injury, is in moderate condition.
Seven-year-old Eran Peretz, from Jerusalem, was injured Saturday morning by a mortar shell while visiting the Gaza Jewish community of Netzarim with this family. He is showing signs of improvement after 11-hours of surgery. The boy’s hand was severely lacerated when the mortar shell missed him by just six feet.
Moyal said he knows that the IDF has a plan to completely re-enter Gaza – but will only be permitted to implement it if something like 20 residents of Sderot are killed. “I don’t want even one more resident to be killed!” said the Mayor.
Colonel Avi Levi, Commander of the Northern Brigade stationed in Gaza told Arutz-7’s Kobi Finkler that the IDF would continue to operate against terror groups in the region. “The operation we have begun is only part of the complete picture of the extensive actions of the IDF in the Zeitoun district, in order to prevent shooting and the firing of mortar shells into Netzarim. We are not prevented from entering any areas of the neighborhood and other places as well, as the need arises – in order to act against those who engage in terrorism against us. We will do everything necessary to ensure that the residents of Netzarim and communities within the Green Line will be able to have quiet. Together with this, I cannot claim that one or two operation can put an end to the firing of mortar shells and Kassam rockets. We will probably widen our base of operations because it seems the Palestinians will continue the attacks and even cause more injury to the residents of Sderot and Netzarim.”
Sunday morning, two more Kassam rockets were fired at kibbutzim [collective communities] near Sderot, within Israel’s pre-1967 borders.
Sderot residents plan on staging a citywide strike, closing all services and flying black flags, “so that the country will understand that the current situation can not and will not be tolerated any longer.”
The IDF has launched an anti-rocket operation in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza, but Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal says the small army incursions are not stopping the rockets and mortar shells. “For four years we restrained ourselves but that time is over. We just buried two residents from the terror attack at the Karni Crossing on Thursday; we have a young girl who is fighting for her life from a Kassam rocket that fell on a quiet neighborhood in Sderot right after the Sabbath, and today we are preparing for the funeral of one more resident who was killed at Karni.”
Moyal says that the Sderot residents decided after a special emergency meeting to declare Monday a “Day of Mourning” and to stage a protest march toward the Arab town of Beit Hanoun, just half a mile from Sderot, where the rockets are being fired from. “We want to wake up the government to do something to stop the firing of Kassam rockets.”
17-year-old Chaya Ella [bat Sima] Abukasis, wounded critically by a Kassam rocket Saturday night, is still being treated in Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva. Doctors report her condition to be improving. Her ten-year-old brother, who suffered a head injury, is in moderate condition.
Seven-year-old Eran Peretz, from Jerusalem, was injured Saturday morning by a mortar shell while visiting the Gaza Jewish community of Netzarim with this family. He is showing signs of improvement after 11-hours of surgery. The boy’s hand was severely lacerated when the mortar shell missed him by just six feet.
Moyal said he knows that the IDF has a plan to completely re-enter Gaza – but will only be permitted to implement it if something like 20 residents of Sderot are killed. “I don’t want even one more resident to be killed!” said the Mayor.
Colonel Avi Levi, Commander of the Northern Brigade stationed in Gaza told Arutz-7’s Kobi Finkler that the IDF would continue to operate against terror groups in the region. “The operation we have begun is only part of the complete picture of the extensive actions of the IDF in the Zeitoun district, in order to prevent shooting and the firing of mortar shells into Netzarim. We are not prevented from entering any areas of the neighborhood and other places as well, as the need arises – in order to act against those who engage in terrorism against us. We will do everything necessary to ensure that the residents of Netzarim and communities within the Green Line will be able to have quiet. Together with this, I cannot claim that one or two operation can put an end to the firing of mortar shells and Kassam rockets. We will probably widen our base of operations because it seems the Palestinians will continue the attacks and even cause more injury to the residents of Sderot and Netzarim.”
Sunday morning, two more Kassam rockets were fired at kibbutzim [collective communities] near Sderot, within Israel’s pre-1967 borders.