May 9: On Friday May, Jimmy Kedoshim, 48, a member of Kibbutz Kfar Aza and father of three, was killed by a mortar attack on his kibbutz while tending his garden in his backyard.
This is the first death caused by mortar fire since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. A second mortar shell exploded next to the kibbutz community hall, wounding three people. (MFA, Jpost.com, SderotMedia.com)
May 10-11: Over the weekend, Palestinian terrorists launched 21 Qassam rockets at the western Negev, five falling in Sderot. A total of five people were lightly wounded, mostly by flying shrapnel, and at least that many suffered emotional shock. One of the Qassams exploded close to an apartment building, causing serious damage to the structure and several nearby buildings. The attack also caused a dangerous gas leak. Miraculously, no one was physically injured although a number of people suffered emotional trauma.
In another miracle earlier in the day, a Qassam rocket scored a direct hit on a house while family members were inside – and, although the home was damaged, no one was physically injured. The family will be temporarily housed in a hotel in Ashkelon. A Qassam also slammed into the courtyard of Sapir College on the outskirts of the city and damaged a building. Another rocket exploded next to a yeshiva in Sderot. There too, the building was damaged but no one was hurt. (MFA, Haaretz.com)
May 12: Shuli Katz, a 70-year-old resident of Kibbutz Gvaram was killed early Monday evening when a Palestinian Qassam rocket crashed into the backyard of a residential home in Yesha – a small community part of the Eshkol Regional Council. A widow, Katz is survived by four children, five grandchildren and her 90-year-old mother, who lives in a retirement home.
She sustained critical injuries from the impact and MDA paramedics alerted to the scene fought to resuscitate for some time before ultimately calling the time of death. Medics also treated a 50-year-old man for shock. The al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack. (Ynet News.com, SderotMedia.com)
May 12: At about 6 pm on Wednesday evening, an Iranian-made Grad rocket launched from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip hit a busy shopping mall in central Ashkelon. 90 people were wounded, four of them seriously when the impact of the rocket caused the roof of the shopping mall came crashing down on the shoppers. Among those seriously injured were 24-year old Ashkelon resident, Avital Afjan and her two year-old daughter, Tair, who suffered from shrapnel wounds to her head. (SderotMedia.com)
From January 1, 2008 to May 31, 2008, over 980 Qassam rockets were launched at Sderot and the western Negev, while over 1,000 mortar shells were fired at kibbutzim and communities from the northern Gaza Strip.
