Rocket and Mortar Barrage Hits Ashkelon and Negev

[notfullofit]

IsraelNN.com) A barrage of 25 Kassam rockets and close to 50 mortar shells slammed into the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council and neighboring areas Thursday afternoon.

One rocket exploded close to Ashkelon, home to more than 110,000 Israelis. The Color Red alert system that warns of incoming rockets reportedly did not activate prior to the rocket's impact. A 59-year-old woman was moderately wounded by flying shrapnel in Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, between Gaza and Ashkelon; she was taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon for treatment.

30 Meters From Lindenstrauss

A number of rockets slammed into the Eshkol and Sdot HaNegev Regional Council areas, one setting an agricultural field ablaze. Another Kassam exploded in the rocket-battered city of Sderot, but caused no damage. It later turned out that visiting State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss was on his way to a meeting in Sapir College in Sderot when the rocket exploded some 30 meters from him; he was unharmed.

A number of people were treated at the scene by Magen David Adom medics for severe shock, and fires broke out at the point of impact in a number of areas south of the Ashkelon port city.

The Shaar HaNegev Regional Council meanwhile instructed its residents to remain indoors, preferably in bomb shelters, until further notice.

The View From Gaza
Hamas terror chieftain Ismail Haniye, who serves as the prime minister of Gaza, said afterwards that he will refuse to continue to recognize Israel, and that Israel's siege - partial closure of the crossings into Israel - will not break them. This, despite polls showing that the Gaza population is beginning to prefer Fatah over Hamas.

In Gaza, an Arab sustained moderate shrapnel wounds from a mortar shell that fell short, landing on the Gaza side of the security barrier near the Erez Crossing.

The attack followed a mysterious blast at a terrorist's home in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiyeh, less than a mile from Sderot, in which four people were killed and 30 wounded. The terrorists said they fired the barrage in retaliation for the explosion - though the IDF denied any involvement.

Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri vowed that "Israel will pay the price for the Beit Lahiyeh crime," adding, "The Israeli side made a mistake for which it will pay a heavy price. The resistance movements know how to collect 'the payment.'"

more....
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/126470

[whistle]

1. Oh boy! It's going to be a long summer

[pegleg]

2. So what else is new.

Time to write em all off.