Grad Hits Hutzot ShoppingMall

Wed 14th May. It was almost 18:00. We were with the Diller delegation teens at a meeting in the municipality building. The Grad rocket fell on Hutzot shopping mall, about 4 km away, at peak shopping hour. The teens started to get calls from their parents. I tried to call to check on my kids but the phone lines were down. So we sent the teens home , and I flew home, to find my kids calm. The fact that there was no siren helped ...

There was no siren this time so people didn't have any warning. Two days ago there was a warning siren but the two grad missiles fell while the siren was still going, so it probably wouldn't have made much difference. This grad missile fell on the third floor of the Hutzot shopping mall where there are offices and clinics. It hit a medical clinic and 4 people, including a mother and a baby were seriously injured . There were many others injured, including children.

This is the mall on the right of the main road, as you enter Ashkelon through the main entrance, Sderot Ben Gurion. It is opposite the firestation. There was a lot of damage but luckily the grad hit a corner of the mall and not the center because the mall was crowded and it could easily have been worse.

Shocking pictures from the site of the missile attack, from "the Israel Project" :'

http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/c.hsJPK0PIJpH/b.4129617/