Students at the Sapir College campus run for cover under Kassam barrage which killed Roni Yihye (Photo: Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye)

27-28 Feb 2008

Roni Yihye, 47, father of four and a student at Sapir College, was killed Wednesday afternoon (27 Feb) when a Kassam rocket exploded in a parking lot near the campus in Sderot.

Over 40 Kassam rockets were fired by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza on Wednesday afternoon. One struck a Sderot poultry factory cafeteria shortly after some 100 workers had left the room. Four longer-range Grad rockets landed in Ashkelon, one exploding near Barzilai Hospital, where those wounded in the Kassam attacks receive treatment. A power line was torn in the attack, causing a power outage in the southern part of the city.

A total of 15 Sderot residents were treated in Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital for shock, including five for serious trauma.

Hamas has claimed responsibility for these rocket barrages.

Two long-range Grad rockets fired from the northern Gaza Strip Thursday evening (28 February) hit the southern city of Ashkelon. One of the rockets landed near a school in the center of town. A 17-year-old girl suffered light shrapnel wounds and several other people suffered from anxiety.

Earlier on Thursday, a rocket scored a direct hit on a home in Ashkelon.

More than 30 Kassam and Grad rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel throughout the day.

Maria Haimov, 8, waits outside the operating room while her brother, wounded by a Kassam rocket, undergoes surgery

25 Feb 2008

After returning home from school on Monday afternoon, 10-year-old Yossi Haimov of Sderot and his 8-year-old sister Maria went to visit a friend and went out to play in the backyard.

Maria related how Yossi was wounded by a Kassam rocket: "We heard the Color Red (alert system), quickly ran and hid, there was a small 'boom', and when we came out there was a strong explosion. We hid near the wall and the shrapnel hit Yossi in the shoulder."

"We both quickly ran to a grocery store, screaming. The grocery store owner called for an ambulance and they took Yossi to the hospital. Yossi didn't cry, he only kept telling me that it hurts. All I remember is that there was a lot of smoke, and when I saw Yossi's shoulder with blood I could see that his entire sholder was broken."

After surgery, Dr. Ron Lobel informed Yossi's parents them that the doctors had managed to save their son's arm.

Ynet - Sderot's war children: "A child who attempted to live the routine life of a normal childhood in the midst of an abnormal and never-ending war routine almost paid by losing his arm."

Jerusalem Post: "While television cameras were pointed westward to capture the Gaza protest that failed to live up to expectations, a 10-year-old Sderot boy was seriously hurt while playing outside with his sister as the town faced another day of Kassam rocket fire." 

9 Feb 2008

Eight-year-old Osher Twito and his brother Rami, 19, were seriously wounded when a Kassam rocket fired by Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip exploded as they were walking on a street in Sderot on Saturday evening. They were evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, where Osher underwent extensive surgery and doctors were forced to amputate one of his legs. Rami is recovering from surgery. Their mother Iris and another brother were treated for shock.

Osher's father, Rafi, said, "He is just an eight-year-old kid. A child who should be playing football, riding his bike. How can such a child live with an amputated leg, with his entire life ahead of him?"

The Al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad's military wing claimed responsibility for the attack. In Gaza, terrorists celebrated their "success", as gunmen from the Al-Quds Brigades fired in the air and broadcasted victory messages from mosque loudspeakers. Hamas annoucned that since last Tuesday (5 Feb), its own operatives have fired 154 rockets and mortars at Israel.

6 Feb 2008

A Kassam rocket fired from northern Gaza landed near a kindergarten in a kibbutz in the western Negev on Wednesday afternoon as the children were being taken home. Tchelet, age 2, sustained shrapnel injuries to her leg and her mother suffered from shock. Yardena, 12, was injured in the shoulder. (Ynet report)