Gaza terrorists spent the lion’s share of the day on Thursday aiming their rocket fire at the southern border town of Sderot.
The afternoon began with rocket fire aimed at Sderot, although terrorists did not fail to attend to Ofakim, Netivot and the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council and Merhavim Regional Council districts.
The Color Red siren began wailing just after lunch, in the second hour of the afternoon with two warnings, the first in Sderot and the second in the Ofakim area.
Within the requisite 15-second window, a Qassam arrived, this time slamming into a road and causing some damage in the industrial area.
A rocket also exploded in an open area in the Merhavin Regional Council district. As with other attacks earlier in the day, no physical injuries were reported, officials said.
Several hours earlier, during the morning hours, three buildings in the community sustained damage from direct hits by short-range Qassam rockets fired by Gaza terrorists.
One was a summer day camp for young children, who were in the building at the time of the attack. They had 15 seconds to reach the shelter before the rocket struck; by the grace of G-d, constant drilling and a well-built safe space, they made it.
Cars were also damaged by the Qassam attack alongside the second building, a private home.
Sappers were called to defuse a third rocket that didn’t explode in the center of town; it landed near a preschool, causing some damage there as well.
No one was physically injured in any of the attacks although the children were treated for shock. Their parents, badly traumatized and some in shock, came to take them home for the rest of the day. Other residents suffered from severe anxiety and trauma as well.
The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system also was busy – operators sent units up in the air to intercept two missiles flying towards the southern town of Netivot, where the holy Sephardic Torah sage, the Baba Sali, lies at rest in the town’s cemetery.
Neither missile caused and physical injuries or property damage, officials said.
The security cabinet has met nearly every night this week but has yet to reach a decision about how to conclusively silence the rocket, mortar and missile fire.