A 56-year old man was lightly injured early Wednesday morning when a Grad rocket fired from Gaza exploded in Beersheba.
Four hours later, another Grad rocket hit open spaces near the southern city. Security forces are still looking for the rocket. Several mortar shells also exploded in Eshkol Regional Council, but no injuries or damage were reported.
Meanwhile, Palestinian sources said military choppers fired missiles at a terror cell near Gaza City.
The Beersheba man was hit by glass shards from a pane that shattered from the explosion. Three people also sustained shock, and infrastructure was damaged.
The Islamic Jihad movement claimed responsibility for the Grad rocket that fell at 5:30 am. A statement issued by the organization said, “This is an initial reaction to the Zionist crimes against our people in Gaza.”
The old buildings in the neighborhood in which the rocket fell are not equipped with bomb shelters. Residents had to leave their homes in order to seek shelter, and were infuriated to discover that many of the bomb shelters were locked.
“People waited outside with small children,” Narkis Sasson, who resides in the neighborhood, told Ynet. “We have been abandoned to our fate.”
“This time it hit a road but next time it will hit someone. There is no public security,” added Barry Shalit. “An entire neighborhood has been abandoned.”
Grad hits Beersheba (Archive photo: Noam Bedein)
Beersheba Mayor Rubik Danilovich was present at the municipality’s operations room as police sappers removed the rocket from where it had hit.
“I told the prime minister three weeks ago that we cannot accept the trickle of fire, not only in Beersheba.
We do not want war but we believe the government should restore calm to the south, even at the expense of another operation. Roughly calculating, a rocket is fired every few weeks,” he said.
The municipality also announced that school would be canceled in the city on Wednesday. However, Ben Gurion University has decided classes will go on according to schedule.
