'Een gift voor de opening van het schooljaar'

Zo noemde Islamitische Jihad de 7 raketten die het gisteren op Sderot heeft afgevuurd. Een van de raketten kwam terecht in de tuin van een cresh [woordspeling onbedoeld!]. Woedende ouders beschuldigen de Israëlische regering ervan te weinig voor de veiligheid van de kinderen in Sderot te doen. Zo zijn nog steeds niet alle klaslokalen extra beveiligd, en hebben kinderen na een alarm slechts maximaal twee minuten om naar de safe room te rennen. Sommigen zijn er voor dat de kinderen in een andere stad, buiten Kassambereik, les krijgen. Sommigen denken erover weg te trekken uit Sderot, zoals vele duizenden dit voor hen reeds hebben gedaan. Dit is wat de Islamitische Jihad en Hamas, die de raketten afschieten, willen: Sderot veranderen in een spookstad. En na Sderot Ashkelon. En daarna Ashdod. Enz.

Ratna
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Last update - 13:27 03/09/2007   

Qassam rocket lands near day care center in Sderot

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/900315.html

Israel Defense Forces soldiers scrambled to evacuate babies from a day care center in rocket-scarred Sderot on Monday after a Qassam rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip thudded into its courtyard.

The rocket was one of seven to be fired from the Gaza Strip into the western Negev on Monday. The Islamic Jihad militant group claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, calling them "a gift for the opening of the school year."

Twelve children suffered from shock after the strike on the southern town, and were evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for treatment.

Frantic parents across the city - already furious over the government's failure to protect them and their children from the near-daily rocket fire - reportedly pulled their children out of schools on the second day of the academic year, and said they would not send their children to school on Tuesday.

Natalie, a caretaker at the center, told Army Radio that "in the adjacent classroom, which was closer to the site of impact, they didn't hear the alert until shattered glass fell on them. It's a matter of seconds between the 'Red Color' alert and the moment of impact."

"Some of the children were screaming and we are trying to calm them down. I also considered abandoning the city, I left for a month in the past. I'm still thinking of leaving. I have a child and I won't let him experience this," she continued.

Batya Katar, head of the Sderot Parents Association, said parents were pulling all 2,500 of the town's students out of school. "Buses are already on the way to pick up students who haven't been taken home yet," Katar said over the phone, the voices of panicked parents audible in the background. "The government promised to move students out of the city if there was an escalation in Palestinian rocket fire," she said. "This is an escalation, but there is no sign of any solution," she added.

Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal, accused the government of abandoning his city. "They simply don't care," he told Army Radio.

Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi said Israel will soon have to consider a wider ground operation in Gaza. "At some stage, decided by Israel, there will be no choice but to wage a campaign in the Gaza Strip," he told Army Radio.

Wary parents in Sderot threatened not to send their children to school on the first day of the year on Sunday. But they lifted the strike threat after being promised the schools were properly protected and that shelters had been upgraded.

To calm jittery residents ahead of the school year, the military dispatched more than 200 soldiers to accompany students back to school in Sderot and instruct them on emergency procedures.

An IDF operation aimed at eliminating the Islamic Jihad cell responsible for the recent Qassam fire on Israel failed Sunday, when an Israel Air Force plane fired a missile at a car carrying Islamic Jihad militants in Khan Yunis. The missile hit near the vehicle, lightly damaging it.

IDF forces arrested 24 Palestinian militants throughout the West Bank overnight Sunday.