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Tuesday, November 13, 2018

TOWN OF SDEROT, ISRAEL: RIGHT ON THE GAZAN BORDER, BOMBED THE MOST

Nadene Goldfoot                                     
                                                                     
Sderot is a western Negev city and former development town in the Southern District of Israel. In 2017 it had a population of 25,138. Sderot is located less than a mile from Gaza, and is notable for having been a major target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
                                     

The picture above shows distance from rockets to hit       from Gaza into Sderot:
     3km=1.86411 miles
     9km=5.59234 miles
  22 km=13.6702 miles
                                   
A brave citizen in a moment out of the bomb shelter

You can see that Sderot has been suffering from rockets, mortars ever since Israel moved out of Gaza in the name of peace so that the Palestinians could move in.  Hamas terrorists won the first election they held and has ruled ever since with the goal of attacking Israel and destroying it.
                                                                       
         
It was first settled by Moroccan Jews in the mid 1950's being Israel was created on May 14, 1948.  Then Romanian and Kurdish Jewish immigrants began settling there in 1956.  On the 1961 census, there were 87% North African Jewish immigrants living there.  Another 11% of the residents were from Kurdistan.  With this background, I wouldn't be surprised if they understood all the Arabic words coming out of Gaza spoken by the Hamas terrorists.  They would be quadrilingual;  Hebrew, Arabic, French and English. 
                           

In the 1990s, another wage of Russian immigrants came and doubled their population.  By 1996 it reached the size of a city.  1997 was the year that Palestinians were resettled in Sderot after "cooperating with the Shin Bet," Israel's Security Agency.  
                                                              

Sderot is only 1 km or 0.62 mile from Gaza.  The 2nd Intifada started in 2001, and more so since 2005 when Israel was completely out of Gaza, they have been under fire from Gaza.  Qassam rockets are launched by the terrorists and Islamic Jihadists of Gaza.  The city continued to be under this rocket fire until 2009.  All this time they have been the object of rocket fire.  Every once in a while rockets have continued to be fired at them.  Homemade or not, they all have caused deaths and injuries and have damaged homes and property, giving psychological distress.  There have been citizens who have been forced for these reasons to even leave the city, which may be the enemy's aim.  
                                                   
Quiet in between bombings in Sderot

Israel installed an alarm system to warn citizens of rocket attacks.  Being such closeness, they get 7-15 seconds to reach shelter after the sounding of the alarm.  In 2007, when shelling got so bad, a temporary evacuation had to be held for the thousands of residents.  By November 23, 2007, 6,311 rockets had fallen on the ity.  3,000 of the city's 22,000 population left for safety out of the Qassam rocket range.  A relief program was held for people unable to leave the city.  On December 12th, more than 20 rockets landed, all in that day and this included a direct hit on one of the main avenues.  The mayor resigned and was angry that the government had failed to stop the rocket attacks.  Moyal was persuaded to stay.  
                                                    
Fragments of rockets collected from Sderot

The population dropped by 10 to 15%, maybe even 25%.  Those who stayed were people who couldn't afford to move out or couldn't sell their homes.  Air raid sirens and explosions had done a number on the population causing severe psychological trauma in some people.  

75% of those aged 4-18 suffered from PTSD, sleeping disorders and severe anxiety.
1,000 residents were receiving psychiatric treatment at the community mental health center.
                                                      
Gaza, the city that Israel gave up in the name of Peace in 2005

From the middle of June 2000 to mid February 2008, 771 rockets and 857 mortar bombs were fired at Sderot and the western Negev.
That's 3 to 4 bombings each day as an average for 8 months straight.  

The latest news from Haaretz is: Iron Dome intercepts some 100 rockets ■ Sirens sound as far as Dead Sea ■ Around 70 Israelis wounded, two of whom seriously ■ IDF strikes over 100 Gaza targets ■ Four Palestinians said killed.

Ynet brings us up to speed with: More than 300 rockets fired from Gaza, IAF strikes 70 targets
IDF Spokesperson blames Hamas for flare up, IAF strikes over 70 targets in the Gaza Strip after militants launch more than 300 rockets at Israeli communities in southern Israel, 60 intercepted; IDF soldier in critical condition.
Palestinian militants in Gaza fired over 300 rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel within a span of  five hours Monday evening in the most intense hostilities in the region since 2014.
Israel has been trying very hard to avoid another Intifada episode.  Living through such punishment is more than the population can take without giving punishment back somehow.  Don't worry.  Israel is giving out punishment while trying to avoid enemy civilians.  

Photo: AFP
Gaza rockets
Photo: AFP


Resource: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/FMfcgxvzLhZWpcGvzBsQBRlvNDgKpbbd
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sderot
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/breaking-news-israel-and-gaza-exchange-fire-palestinians-killed-bus-destroyed-1.6650643
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5398776,00.html

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