Sunday, March 02, 2008

Half-Dozen Wounded in Weekend

Hana Levi Julian

At least 20 missiles were fired by Gaza terrorists at the coastal city of Ashkelon between midnight and 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning with more fired later in the day. By evening, six civilians were wounded and a number of others suffered emotional shock in the attacks.. One rocket slammed into a house in the port city, sending the occupants into severe shock. A car exploded in flames after being hit by another missile in the city.

Early Sabbath morning, a woman and two children were lightly wounded and a number of others suffered shock in one of the rocket attacks.

Later in the day, one civilian was moderately wounded and two others were lightly injured in a rocket attack on the Ashkelon Marine Coastal Center. Several other people were treated for shock.

All of the injured were taken to the city's Barzilai Hospital with shrapnel wounds. The Health Department ordered the hospital to transfer its maternity and neo-natal units to protected shelters.

The Home Front Command has instructed the Ashkelon municipality to open its public bomb shelters in order to allow residents to take cover once a "Color Red" alert sounds.

The rocket alert system was also expanded Saturday to include other communities located near Ashkelon, including Kfar Silver, Berchya, Bat Kadar, Beit Shikma, Mavki'im, Talmei Yafeh, Gaya and Mishan.

One third of the residents of Sderot have left the that city and more than 75 percent of its children suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of the thousands of rocket attacks fired on the city in the past seven years.

An eight-year-old boy lost a leg and his 19-year-old brother was also seriously injured in a rocket attack on Sderot one week ago. A number of other Israeli children were also hurt in rocket attacks in the past week, including one who was hit by shrapnel as she huddled outside a locked bomb shelter seconds after hearing the wail of the Color Red rocket alert siren.

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