Shabbat wakeup

7:10 am this sunny, windy Saturday morning, a siren woke us up and then we heard the faint boom. A grad rocket exploded just south of Ashkelon, luckily once again missing its civilian target and exploding in an open area. It's been a tense quiet period, everyone has slowly been unwinding from living life under the barrage of rockets, and we've even almost stopped jumping at every loud noise and every ambulance siren. Still, I don't think that anyone was really surprised to hear the siren this morning.

This week there were at least two rockets fired at Sderot and Shaar HaNegev and one at Eshkol area (causing no damage or injury) and, depite the ceasefire, mortar shelling of kibbutzim on the Gaza border continues (Nicole)

photo from this morning's report in www.ynet.co.il

Ceasefire Shabbat

SHABBAT . First one since the cease-fire . We went to dinner at my mother -in -law's how, like we do every Frtiday night , but not since the war started . Shabat morning the kids went to friends, studied to test , did homework . Just an ordinary weekend. Feels so good to be back to normal stuff. I hope there will be no more war updates for a long time. Just updates, good things . Shavua Tov.

Life resumes, after "Operation Cast Lead"

I guess today is the first day that I and other mothers in Ashkelon feel that life is really back to normal -Elementary schools and kindergarden are back to school this morning. I dropped Gily , my youngest ,2nd grade, at school after more than a month out of school. There was a girl dressed up as a fairy , giving out candies to the kids . There was music and baloons . Gily ran to join her friends , I had tears in my eyes.... The first 2 hours were "Hosen "- resilience program for the kids. When she came back home she said today at school was fun! Tomorrow all the schools will start with 2 hours resilience as well.

Linda & Michael Elman Visit Ashkelon

Monday morning, right after the cease fire started , the first "Not about the war " meeting the new Mayor , Mr. Benny Vaknin, had was with 2 Baltimorians - Dr Michael and Linda Elman. This was the first official visit from The Associated since the war began and it was also the first official visit from a Senior member of the Ashkelon Committee to the new Mayor of Ashkelon. Other people were invited from the Municipality and from the partnership. Though I have not yet had a chance for a real working meeting with the Mayor he knows about the partnership and I updated him by emails and memos. The Mayor expressed his appreciation to the Associated and for all the things that the community has done since the war started . His vision to the future is to engage as many poeple as possible in both community , in order to enhance and expand the partnership. Michael and Linda shared the commitment and care the poeple in Baltimore have for Ashkelon ,to their friends and others. From the Municipality we saw some of the places in Ashkelon where the grad missiles caused damage, and went to a shelter at Katzenelson CC, where we met Erez , Liron Menashe's brother , who volunteers there since the war started , and we gave out some of the toys that the members of the Jewish community of Baltimore collected for us in Ashkelon Day .

After the Cease-fire

2 quiet days, and slowly life is going back to normal. Today 10th - 12th grades are back to school. Tomorrow maybe junior-high pupils will join them. Elementary school children are still at home or in the public shelters, they'll go back to school hopefully by the end of this week. The malls opened most of the stores , though very few people are out shopping. Cinemas are still close. Every plane that flies over our haeds makes you freeze , hard to beleive there won't be a siren sound following it ... Every day I recieve bags full with crayons and coloring books and toys for the Ashkelon kids in the shelters. They make the kids very happy. Thanks for all those who helped collecting them. Eveyone that leaves Baltimore nowdays is bringing one. Yossi and Risa Kelemer, Linda and Michael Elman, Jenny - CSI/Diller .... This morning Dror, from Hava'ad Lema'an Hhahyal - The association for the soldiers, brought another bag and I gave him the cards that kids in Baltimore made for soldiers , he is on his way to visit the soldiers near Gaza and will give them your cards.

Ashkelon - "Operation Cast Lead" - Summary

Ceasefire. Today was the first day for three weeks that no rockets have hit the city of Ashkelon. Things are slowly returning to "normal". The city has been half empty for the last few weeks.

Yesterday, at 14:00 when the ceasefire was just being announced, one of the last rockets to hit Ashdod hit the yard of our hairdresser. He was lucky to be at work in Ashkelon when the Hamas rocket landed on his home in Ashdod.

His house was covered in hundreds of the tiny deadly metal balls and sharp bits of metal shrapnel that burst out of every exploded rocket. They broke every window and penetrated every wall and every piece of furniture, every closet and even the refrigerator. Everything was destroyed. He is now living in an Ashkelon hotel with his family until his home can be renovated. He considers himself lucky: "we are all healthy, none of us were hurt, and that is the most important thing, what do I care about my house?". Nicole

Some facts and figures from http://www.ashkelonim.co.il/

"Operation Cast Lead" began on the 27th Dec 2008. For 22 days Tzahal struck back at Gaza and fought the Hamas. Not counting rockets before the Operation, during those 22 days, 95 rocket attack warning sirens were heard in Ashkelon. 122,000 residents went into shelters or safe spaces. Thousands of private businesses closed down for all or part of that time. During those 22 days more than 65 rockets hit the center of the city of Ashkelon. 18 of them scored direct hits on houses or property in Ashkelon and caused damage. 3 of them hit educational institutions.

As a result of the rockets that landed during those 22 days, one person was killed and 188 others were injured. Of those, 93 suffered from trauma, 22 were lightly injured and 3 suffered "medium" injuries. All the injured were treated at the Barzilai Medical Center along with hundreds of the injured from the surrounding areas.

Since the beginning of "Operation Cast Lead", all educational institutions in the city of Ashkelon were closed: 165 kindergartens, 31 primary schools, 15 high schools, and one college. 30,000 students were forced to stay home: 5,263 children of kindergarten age, 10,131 of primary school age, 9,427 of high school age, and 5,750 college students.

During this period many politicians visited Ashkelon. Among them were President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Min of Defence Ehud Barak, the Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg, Head of the opposition Benyamin Netanyahu, Meir Shitrit, Yuli Tamir, Eli Yishai, Matan Vilnai and more.

The remains of a Hamas grad rocket that hit a house in Ashkelon

Some cease fire ! We had a siren at 13:00. A grad landed in an open field in the city. All the 12th grade students in Israel are taking thier final Composition test today. In the south region they are taking it in shelters .It started at 14;00. At 14:03 there was another siren. I thought about my daughter, and her friends ,trying to do the test, trying to focus on the paper when all this is happening .. .

Saturday night update

Our middle east reality ... On the TV .they were talking about the sease fire. Suddenly we heard , unbelievable- a siren! There was one earlier at 4 o'clock, and it fell in an empty field , so did this one , no one got hurt . 2 rockets fell in Ashdod. Even though there is probably going to be some kind of arrangement tomorrow , the expectation is that the last few hours, tonight and tomorrow won't be quiet . I hope we'll be wrong. I sent Gily, my little one to spend the night with a friend that lives not far from here and has a sheletred room where the girls will spend the night . Ron , my son is spending the night with a friend that has a sheltered room too. In our house tonight there's only me , my husband and Shir, my oldest , who has a final matric national Composition exam tomorrow ... There won't be any schools tomorrow , not even for 11th and 12th grade students, just the test , in bombshelters , tomorow at 14:00 . Good luck to the students .... TO READ ALL SIGAL'S WAR REPORTS CONSECUTIVELY, PRESS ON THE LABEL "Sigal's War Diary" BELOW.

I want to share with you my afternoon..... After almost 3 weeks that my kids were away from Ashkelon with 2 of our families, we had a quiet day on Thursday in Ashkelon , one siren , no rockets falls. It felt like thinkgs are getting quiet. The kids wanted to go back home . I decided that we are going home for the weekend. Shir my oldest took the train at 7 o\clock back to study math at school. Our cousin said he'll bring my son Ron home in the afternoon. I waited till Gily, my youngest came back from school where she stay. She said goodbye to her new classmates , told them we will invited them to Ashkelon soon and we headed south . As I was driving home Shir and Ron - my kids -called to tell me there was a siren , no close booms... After 30 minutes they called to tell me that there was another siren , far boom... I heard on the news it fell in Ashdod. I started to think I should have left Gily with my sister in law, but she really begged me to go back home, she misses her room , toys , friends ....I put my foot on the gas , driving home. The radio was was on 101.5 radio station that plays music and live sirens if there are any... There was a great song on the radio - Oblady oblada life goes on... I was singing loud , Gily was laughing at me, suddenly the music stopped , we hread" Red color- a siren in Ashkelon and the area", I froze , it took a second to get my act together . We were near nothing !!!! 5 minuts way from the north etrance to Ashkelon .I stopped the car on the side, left the keys and my purse in it , grabbed Gily out of the seat belt , and we ran to a ditch near the road . We both bended on the sand ,I was covering her. The siren seemed soooooo long... I hugged her , there were 6-7 other cars lining near us, parents covering their children, older poeple. As the siren ended we heard 2 booms in the near area. We waited a minute and everyone ran back to the cars trying to get as quickly as possible to a safe place. All the way back home Gily was crying in the back seat . I was still shaking while driving. The rockets fell one near the old cemetary , at te north os the city, the second one fell in the northren industrial area , not too far from us. When you are in an open area , feel so helpless , and in the silence around you, it sounded horrible. At home Gily opened 2 Hanuka boxes we got from friends in NY and NJ . They came in Hanuka , but she wasn't home since then... She found a Hannah Montana costum for Purim and some Disney princess dolls and for a few minutes was a 7 years old again... there was another siren an hour later while Gily and I were in the driveway of my friend in a moshav near Ashkelon. I took Gily there to play with my friend's daughter , her age. We parked the car , heard the siren and ran into their house and together ran to the sheltered room . As I'm writing this we hear the sounds of IDF bombing Gaza. We can only pray and hope that tonight will be quiet , Shabat Shalom .

Video Interview with Ashkelon's Tal & Liron

Watch the video and read the transcript to hear what our young emissaries to Baltimore have to say in an article from WBalt.tv by Kim Dacey http://www.wbaltv.com/news/18401125/detail.html Due to copyright proviso we can only give you the link. PRESS the word VIDEO to see Tal & Liron giving their (short) interview.(Nicole)

Harel Skaat sings for Nimrod Scouts & Youth Council

Many singers and performers have been volunteering their time in public shelters in Ashkelon. Harel Skaat, a popular young Israeli singer, who was a runner-up in the second season of Kokhav Nolad ("A Star is Born" show), came to Ashkelon and performed for the Nimrod tribe of the Israeli scouts, and the Ashkelon Youth Council. Watch the video at : http://www.mako.co.il/music/Magazine/articles/Articles/itemId=57d43fcb269de110VgnVCM100000290c10acRCRD Nicole

Thursday update from Maxine Dorot

Things have calmed down here in Ashkelon..."only" 3 grads yesterday and 3 or 4 the day before. One fell where I teach but didn't explode and it took about an hour to get it out of the earth (and about 45 minutes just to find where it had landed in the first place). Another miracle since there were people in school...albeit on a much smaller scale.

We hear the continuous "thumping" of Israel artillery, day and night, either from the navy in the sea or from the canons on land and I can tell the difference. And today we can see the smoke billowing out of Gaza skies. We must have hit something big.

We're taking longer showers, although not by much, but we still sleep with our slippers strategically placed so that we can just whoosh out of bed in the middle of the night and pour out feet into them so that we can rush for cover.

We're still driving with windows open to hear an alarm, seat belts off so we can get out of the car faster, and windows open at night so we can hear a siren should it go off. Word is that before a cease fire goes into effect, Hamas (which stands for Hiding Among Mosques And Schools) will let rip everything they still have to go down in a blaze of glory.

The sun gives a false sense of security; we're all bracing for the big finish. I hope we can go back to school on Sunday but still don't know since my schools do not have enough shelters for all the students and staff.

The sun was shining today and a few people actually were doing their power walks and jogs, but very few. Kids are still not outside playing and people who do food shopping, are stocking up on goods and getting out of the shop in record time.

The first thing I do when this is over is go on a diet! That's it from here.Shabbat Shalom from Ashkelon,Maxine

Matric students go back to school

The Home Front Command has allowed some matric students to go back to school. Classes will take place only in underground bomb shelters. Not all the schools have the facilities to allow this, and there will be no risks taken. Apparently there was a 69% turnout of students on the first day. Mayor Benny Vaknin toured Ashkelon high school shelters together with Moshe Yanai - Head of Education, Moshe Amar, Yossi Grinfeld & Ariyeh Ohayon. (Nicole)

Joe the Plumber visits Ashkelon

Joe the Plumber ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_the_plumber ) Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka "Joe the Plumber", who became something of a celebrity during the 2008 USA presidential election, representing the average middle-class American, visited Ashkelon on 12th Jan. He interviewed Mayor Benny Vaknin, met Moshe Nissimpur, a plumber from Ashkelon who built a missile from sewage pipes, and toured bombshelters. "Joe the Plumber" has been touring the Gaza border region and Israeli towns hit by Palestinian rocket fire to show his support for the Israel action against Gaza, "President Obama has already spoken about what he would do here. He said that if his daughters were living here he would take whatever means necessary to protect his daughters. So I just hope he carries through with it, but that is going to be up to him," said Joe, who was given a small model rocket as a gift from Israeli plumber Moshe Nissimpur. The model rocket below, was given to Joe the Plumber, with the following inscription: "For Joe the Plumber. Thank you for your support in these difficult days. From the Israeli plumber" (Nicole)

Tuesday started quiet and peaceful. Then we had 2 sirens that nothing fell in the city . We are hoping that this is a good sign . Ok , strange enough as I was writing we just had a siren... We ran one floor down . We heard the boom this time . Not sure where...

Update from Khaya Dinsky

12th Jan 2009 Not a good day : Well, I made it to physiotherapy. Had an anxiety attack on the way, but not as bad as when Simha was with me. I knew she was "safe" at home.I went up to the third floor where physiotherapy is - everything except the shelter and the bathrooms was closed. So I went back down. Turns out they"re using a room on the first floor - not taking a chance that the roof of the shelter may or may not be strong enough up on top. And of course, a lot of the stuff they usually do, they can't - one because the equipment is upstairs and two ,because they can't put you into a position that you can't get out of and run fast. One guy that was having treatment on his legs had his pants off and was really worried what he would do if he had to run. Luckily for him there wasn't a siren again until several hours later. When I got home, I had a headache, pressure in chest, breathing difficulty and a twitch (tic) in my lip. It has been coming and going all day.all of them. It had gotten a little better, after I took acamol(like tylenol) and had a nap, but then the siren went and woke me up and it got worse again. This time the siren was around 1pm/ Hit a house right near my school, like a block away. No one was hurt, but that is really a miracle. The house was really badly damaged. A woman that had just put a kid into her car and buckled her into her carseat, jumped out of the car and got the kid out and they ran into the house next door)lucky she picked the right house. The car was really badly damaged and there were metal poles that had come from the rocket in her seat and in the kid's seat. People here are more and more convinced that we are seeing miracles every day - the amazing number of near-misses, of rockets that land in empty lots instead of the nearest house, the people that managed to get to safety seconds before rockets hit and explode. As someone put it : "nissim gluyim" - observable miracles. There were several sirens in Beersheva today and Shlomo is there. So everythime they say there is a siren there, my heart dips. There were a bunch of those today. Shlomo says that where he is , there really isn't anywhere to run. He's on the ground floor of a two-story building. The safest place is the stairway. Simha was supposed to have school tomorrow. Her teacher had called yesterday to say there's school tomorrow for the twelfth graders. I told Simha to forget it. She called her teacher a little while ago to find out exactly how things will work tomorrow but the teacher said that the homefront command did not approve their school as being safe so they are not going back to school. That's good. Because otherwise, this teacher would have told her daughter's teacher that she should tell the principal and the ministry of educaation that I don't trust them with my daughter's life. Anyway, if I don't feel better later, or tomorrow, I'll probably call one of the trauma help lines. There are lots of them available to residents of the south. I'm hoping for a quiet night. You know, people here don't say "have a good day". People say "have a quiet day(or night)" and the answer is not "you too" the answer is "amen". And over shabbat when people say "shabbat shalom"(peaceful shabbat) the answer now is "amen" and people understand it much differently than usual. Khaya

PM Ehud Olmert visit to Ashkelon

Today's miraculous escape

Photos from today's direct missile hit on a double storey house in Ashkelon, where the residents narrowly made it into their safe room before their house was hit.

Nicole

Latest two updates from Khaya Dinsky

12 January 2009

It's 6:10 am. We're after our first siren of the day.

I was only half asleep when it went because Lucky was making funny noises and I kept telling her to be quiet. I didn't remember in my sleep that Lucky has the sharpest hearing of any of our dogs and has done her own version of the siren(wierd noise)when there wasn't a siren and she's always right. So I told her to shut up and then the siren went. 5:45am.Simha and I were out and down in seconds. Lucky saved me the wake up  time and the time it takes when you're asleep to understand that the siren is real and not in a dream.

When the sirens go in the middle of the night(or very early in the morning)not everyone wakes up and some of the neighbors that usually come out into the stairs don't.That's the most dangerous. What if it' falls here??

Anyway, we didn't hear a boom. They say on the radio it was a false alarm. Lucky's behavior says otherwise. But I don't really care.No one got hurt so it's fine with me.

Anyway, we waited and then everyone went home. Simha and I wait longest. All of a sudden we hear a door unlocking. Michael, a neighbor that never comes out(second floor, north side)came out to leave for work. He's always telling everyone that he works so hard and he leaves earlier than anyone else. I said:"Good morning" and he chuckled. Thought that was funny.

Just surrealistic.

Here are some more rocket funnies for you.

One of my friends says she's gaining lots of weight(lot of us are)Anyway, this is her explanation:"One graad for Ashkelon, four cookies for me. Her husband was supposed to start a workshop to stop smoking. But he called and cancelled. He told them :"this isn't a good time to stop smoking"

One of our neighbors' kids  lost her shoe on the way down with the siren and as Simha was running, she grabbed it and threw it to her/

Yesterday, I called all of my pupils again to say hi and see how they are and where they are. The kids were happy to talk. Some more than others. The parents also were happy to talk. One mother told me, that her son that hates school and is often truant "wants to go to school already"/

Another mother told me that she doesn't think she'll send her son to school even if we reopen as long as there are rockets fallling. She said:" you may not know this, but it fell on  T school and the next day on Q school!"" She was talking about the ones across the street from me. So I told her I know all about them. They were right across the street from me and she said;"no way!"

Yesterday we had a cat situation. There's a cat that lives in my building. All the neighbors except for me feed her. Since the rockets have started falling like rain, they all stopped(some are away, some want the stairwell free for running and standing)so I've been feeding her. Since Saturday afternoon no one saw her. But we kept hearing her. Finally Simha "found" her. The cat was on an awning one floor down from me. The neighbors there are away up north for the duration. Next door to them, no one answered when I knocked. Apparently, when the rocket hit across the street on Shabbat and we helped the elderly neighbor, the cat got in and when it wanted to go out the door was closed, so it went out the window. I tried lowering a chair or a cat carrier to her from my window but she was afraid and I didn't have patience.I kept imagining the siren going and me dropping it and running and leaving the window open and one of my cats jumping or falling out. At some point, I saw light by the elderly neighbor. She let me in and I opened the window and called the cat and she's fine.

I just want this to end. I want to air out my apartment. I want everything back where it belongs. I want to go back to work and not be afraid that there'll be a siren on the way or during the school day.

Yesterday when I walke the dogs, I saw the building that got hit on shabbat. Actually, the hit was in the garden of the building. There is a large hole in the wall that has been plastered up and you can see lots of holes from the schrapnel all up the side of the building. And the lower part of the wall is black  like from a fire.

I have to go to physiotherapy. I haven't gone since this "situation" started. But my neck hurts. I keep telling them I'll come if it's quiet and then just before I have to go there's a siren.

Hoping for a quiet day

Khaya

11 January 2009 

Hi.

I'm starting this letter at 12:19pm on Sunday.I was about to start it just before 12. I was going to write that it's been quiet so far and that it's a lovely day and if I weren't so scared, I'd probably take advantage of being off from school to go for a walk down to the beach. But just as I sat down at the computer, the siren went. We heard the boom, but don't know where in town it landed. Certainly not as close to us as yesterday.They say it landed "in open areas" and there were no injuries, that's what's important.

Okay, I woke up with the radio broadcasts at 6am, as usual. I will be so happy never to hear again :Darom 101/5fm,Darom" That's how they start at 6am and end at 12pm.

Went back to bed and slept some more, until the radio started a siren and stopped in the middle. Turns out the siren was in Beersheva(landed on a car, no injuries, several shell-shocked) and someone somehow mixed the frequencies. About a half an hour later, Shlomo called to say that he's back in Beersheva. Now I have to worry about him again. Oish.

I stayed in bed watching tv and noticed that I have a tic in my left cheek. I'm assuming this is a stress reaction.

Got up and walked the dogs. Close to houses and short. Met two neighbors at the door to the building and we started speakin. Ruti ended the conversation by saying:"I'd better throw this garbage in the  the garbage bin before the siren goes." Only after I got home did I realize that that is not a normal thing to say or think, really.

My principal called today to see how I am. Nice. She actually went to school and was calling all the staff. Well, one person could make it from the office to the shelter in time.

The big topic today is school. They've started returning kids to school all over the south. Beni Vaknin, Ashkelon's mayor told them to forget it. He's not taking responsibility for sending kids to unprotected schools when rockets are still falling. Simha's teacher called last night that on Tuesday 11th and 12th graders in her school(just out of the city)are learning. I told Simha to forget it. The way to school is long and dangerous and the school is not protected with enough shelters.Do you think it's a coincidence that the rockets at Beersheva were at 7:30 when the kids there were on their way to school??

I don't think you can imagine it. My school has almost 800 kids/ If the siren goes, the kids run into the hallway and sit against the wall. There is a part of the hallway that has a second story. Also some parts that don't. The classes on the top floor don't have enough time to get downstairs, so they go under the tables. If you've seen the pictures of the schools and kindergartens that were empty when hit, it's clear to you that the tables are useless and that if a rocket hits an occupied classroom there will be dead children.

We have two bomb shelters in the school.They can hold about 100-150 kids. They are stuffy and hot. You can't really spend the day there and learn.

It's very Israeli to want to "get back to normal" and act like everything is "routine" and "okay"The truth is , that would be nice. I'm going stir-crazy. Bored but not able to concentrate in order to read or do anything useful.Can't go for a long walk.

We've closed off the bedrooms to keep the cats and dogs away from the windows when the siren goes. The blinds are closed and the windows taped. Supposed to make for less glass shards. In the living room, also, which is where wer are most of the time. Sleep there too. But we don't open the windows there to air out because there is a roof under us and the cats like to go out. What would we do if they're out and the siren goes????

just now the radio announced : siren in Kiryat Malachi siren in Kiryat Malachi/ The first thing you do is jump. The second thing you do is say to yourself, it's not here, it's in Kiryat Malachi.The third thing is to go in the other room and make sure there is no siren here as well. There have been times when they shot several rockets at the same time and the radio says them one after the other. So they could be saying "siren Kiryat Malachi and siren Ashdod " and it could also be here in Ashkelon. I almost missed one siren that way but luckily Simha was out the door and I ran after her yelling, I'ts not here it's not here and then realized that all the neighbors were also running downstairs and that I was hearing the siren in the background. Even when everything is okay, it takes me a

couple of hours for my heart to get back to normal and my head to stop hurting.

I hope the rest of the day will be quiet.

Khaya

 

Today I had 2 special visitors - Lauren Hurwitz from Baltimore and her friend Elizbeth from Texas. They came to voulnteer with chilkdren in the shelters. We stopped at an old friend of Lauren's and her family. The girls wanted to hear from Roni how does the siren system operate . He explained to us in details.... As we were leaving we heard the familiar sound of the siren... we ran to the sheler , with Roni , Shula his wife and their 2 years old grandson . We stood for a few minutes, the boom sounded far . I found out later that the grad hit directly a 2 floors' family house . The 3 children who were at the 2nd floor ran down to the shelter when they heard the siren, and the 2nd floor was directly hit ! Nothing happened to the kids ! After the siren was over , we went to the shelter at the Teens center where they volunteered with the little kids.

Today , January 11th is a special day for me, My oldest daughter Shir was born 18 years ago. She was born just when the Gulf war started , her first days as a baby were in a protecting plastic tent , anti - gas shelter for babies... Here we are , 18 years later and she celebrates her birthday away from home, from her friends , from her Dad who stayed in Ashkelon all this time and the kids haven't seen him over a week. We had 4 sirens today in Ashkelon , one rocket fell in the sea , one passed us and hit a kindergarden in Ashdod, 2 , around 20:00 landed in open areas in Ashkelon . We were lucky today, no casualties. Our friends in Baltimore are having a day at the JCC to show their love and support in Ashkeoln , and friendship. Thusnads of miles away , but still very close by heart .

A friend of ours from Baltimore asked me to put this on my blog To our sisters and brothers in Ashkelon - I am thinking of and praying for Ashkelon and Israel during this crazy time - especially for those special people who we were blessed to meet when we visited Ashkelon on the Baltimore Women's Mission in 2007, as well as their family and friends and neighbors, and the rest of the community and areas nearby! Please know that there are many of us here in the US who are thinking of you, and that we are doing what we can to make sure the truth of the situation is known - to ensure that the USA can be a true friend who will stand by Israel as she defends herself, now and always! May you be protected throughout this time, and be strong of heart! Sending all my best, Ellen Gillette

Update from Khaya Dinsky

Hi to all.

We had a quiet night. I'm up as usual at a 6am when the "quiet wave" stops and the radio  starts talking. The radio is always on to Radio Darom because there was one time the sirens near us didn't go but the radio warning did, and a few times the radio warning went a few seconds before the siren.

Washed my hair(fully dressed) and had a sponge-bath in the shower - first the top half of me and them the bottom.Simha is still asleep.We had a quiet night.

Yesterday was a difficult day. Lots of sirens. Don't even know how many. Stopped counting.

Two of the hit were right across the street - the one that hit the school gym and the one next to it in the playground. I ofter walk my dogs in that park because it's close and pleasant. One of my friends always walks her dog there.

One or two of the sirens were during "the humanitarian ceasefire" that we give them every day. But still, it is quieter during those hours. So after it was quiet for an hour, Simha and I went out shopping. We walked the long way because there are houses to run into along the way, Simha was worried in a few places and so was I because in some we couldn't see the entrance. Both of us had anxiety attacks on the way to the local supermarket(an 8 minute walk).She got nauseous and felt her breathing get messed up, I had chest pressure and breathing difficulty. Then we got to the store. It was relatively crowded. There were lines of about two-three people at the cashiers. First I showed her where the safe room is, then we shopped.As quickly as we could.We heard other people telling each other what to do if the siren goes and to hurry up and shop so they could get home before the next siren. So , even if I'm a bit hysterical, I'm still within "normal" range.I had a stomach ache until we got home.Simha got another anxiety attack and almost fainted.

Among our groceries are things we never buy - Rescue Remedy from bach flowers to calm the dogs, one has become aggressive. I took some too. It helped a little, For the dogs and for me. We bought lots of bread, lots of snack food and sweets and stocked up on tea(We've drunk more tea in the last two weeks than we do in a year)These are things that help us calm down.

Also bought some snacks to organize a care package. Don't know yet if I'll send it with the people that are bringing to soldiers on the front or to soldiers that have been injured trying to protect us.

Today,Simha and I are going to TelAviv for the day. Our shul organized for us to see a play in Tel Aviv. I need to have a few hours where I'm not listening for the siren.We'll be home in time for Shabbat.

Shlomo says that friends told him that one of the hits in Beersheva the other day was 50 metres from where he lives there. First time I'm relieved that he's spending so much time with his father. His father told Simha that when Shlomo says he wants to leave, they lock him in, because they don't want him to go to Beersheva. With him it's especially important, because he doesn't take the sirens seriously and doesn't go somewhere safe. In any other circumstances, I would call the police to rescue him.

Hoping for a quiet day and Shabbat Shalom.

Khaya

Shabbat update

Shabat , again , the 3rd one since the war started . There were 3 rockets attacks on Ashkelon, around noon. 4 grad misles fell in the city.One house got a direct hit by a direct rocket. 2 light injuries , a few truma victims. The Minister of Education was in Ashkelon Friday and the decision was to start school for 12th grades who have winter final exams . Only in schools that have shelters. We just heard that after today, they may cancle this decision . Meanwhile the 3rd week is starting, we live on our suitecases . Every day after I'm done with work I go home to bring more stuff for the kids : A book that was left near the bed, a PSP game , a teddie bear to make your sleep sweeter , away from home and our friends ...

photos from Shabbat rocket hits

Update from June Narunsky

Good morning Dear Family and Friends

 

I have just realized that this will be our third Shabbat under fire from Gaza.  We had a peaceful night last night as far as incoming rockets although it was reassuring to hear the drone of our helicopters throughout the night with the occasion swoosh of jets always accompanied by the dull doof, doof, doof of the big guns being fired by the tanks and the navy.

 

Then waiting for the wail of the siren, and rushing to our safe room.  We have 30 seconds before an incoming to move our behinds!  15 seconds longer than the poor folk in Sderot.  The worst part really is waiting for the end of the siren, the surreal quiet and the horrible whistle before you hear the explosion.  If it is near the whole building shakes and quivers.  Then you wait for the prescribed time by the home guard unit and get back to what you were doing.

 

I have to say, which shows my ripe old age!  I am amazed at the technology.  We have a cleaning man who comes in once a week to help with the heavy stuff (well all the yukky things I hate doing, like windows, oven, etc., etc.) and Sami is totally deaf.  So how do we communicate?  Well I write him little notes to tell him what I want and in the beginning I was very worried about him because of course he does not hear the red alert siren.  However, our government devised a little gizmo which has to be worn next to the body and as soon as an alarm goes in the area it buzzes and vibrates something fierce and he knows what to do.  Isn't that amazing?  I think so.  Then we keep our radio on 24 hours a day tuned to Radio South 101 which broadcasts music, news and information all the time but the minute a red alert siren goes, it sounds on the radio and not only that, the voice will tell you exactly where it is going off.  For example if it is in Beer Sheva, or Ashdod or Ashkelon.  Amazing.  I think so.

If you are watching telly at the top right side of the screen as soon as the alarm is to sound a round red dot appears so you know to move your bones and get to the safe area.  Young people just assume that is how it should be but like  I said, I think its all amazing, so that shows my age!!!

 

 I also have to tell you how amazing the folk of this country are.  We have had phone calls and emails from total strangers inviting us to come up to the centre of the country for a few days or as long as we want to chill out and recharge our batteries.  Another thing that amazes me!

 

I guess it is hard to explain how one feels at this point.  I am lucky that Mel is such a laid back character which certainly helps one's stress level and like I said we have the computers in the safe room, so my computer skills should have improved but every now and again I prefer to do my knitting.  I tell you, I am quite a quick knitter but when the siren wails the adrenaline flows and boy do my knitting needles clack at double the speed, I was in shock to notice I have almost finished my sweater.  A pattern which normally takes me weeks, has taken about ten days!! 

 

I really just wanted to touch base with you all and say thank you to all of you who have written, called and emailed us just to let us know your thoughts and prayers are with us certainly is a wonderful boost for the morale.

 

Anthy, Effie and the children are doing okay.  Our little Ben is not too well but that is I think the effects of getting more teeth as well as the cold weather.  Meshi and Shirazi are doing as well as can be expected but won't leave their mother which is also to be expected. 

 

Meshi's dream is to grow up and invent stuff!  So at this moment is very annoyed at the war because she wanted to invent something that would harm the 'bad guys' but leave the good people alone!  And as far as she is concerned the war started without waiting for her invention and in her little mind this is totally unfair!

 

With lots of love to you all, 

June

Letter from Emmi

Emmi is a student in Achva College, studying to be a teacher of English as a Foreign Language.  The lecturers sent assignments to do so as not to lose the semester and perhaps, to keep some of the students busy.

Here is her letter:

 

This gives you a good picture of one aspect of what's going on here...

----- Original Message -----

 Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 11:49 PM

Subject: A letter from Emmi

 

Dear Lecturers

I hope this letter finds you all well and safe. I'm writing to you all, to tell you a little bit about how I'm feeling, hoping you can be more flexible with the many assignments you have sent.

As I was leaving the "ETAI" conference (which I decided to attend in spite of my many fears of leaving Gilbar, my 2 year old son at home without me, in this disturbing reality we woke up in that Sunday morning 2 weeks ago) I got a message from my son's kindergarden that all Ashkelon kindergardens and schools are closing until further notice. That message marked the beginning of a new very stressful, scary and uncertain reality for me and my family in Ashkelon. Since then I have stayed home with my son, afraid that something bad will happen if we go out as the alarms cannot be anticipated in any way, even though  and my husband and I sat every night trying to figure out if it's o.k to take him the following day to the park or not, because even though the alarms were heard yesterday only in the evening, today we heard them also in the morning and maybe tomorrow they will be heard also in the afternoon.

 This script repeated itself over and over again every night and we decided not to leave the house with him until things calm down. But unfortunately they didn't. Can you imagine how  it is like to spend the whole day with a toddler at home, in an apartment without going out for a week? It's hard. And he keeps asking every morning when I dress him  if it's time to go to kindergarden and when I say no, he asks why and he starts crying he wants to go...It breaks my heart...and also I was exhausted  keeping him busy the whole day at home. So we decided to visit my parents who also live in Ashkelon and also were afraid to leave their house.Things started  not that bad and then the alarm caught us in the middle of the way, in the car, and Gilbar's seat belt was stuck and I can't tell you how awful these moments were, until we finally got out of the car and lie on the ground with him crying...and then the"boom", driving home again and again the siren went on....Oh, G'd, what an awful outing it was! 

My practicum in my psychology B.A. dealt with Sderot's children population. During 2005 I drove to Sderot every week to interview families and test children that underwent the scud attacks  for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). The main conclusion of my research was that children of calm mothers showed less symptoms of PTSD compared to children of more stressed mothers, so I understand how important it is in these stressful situations to keep as calm as possible around children to reduce their stress, but I was getting more tense and nervous every day and it started affecting my son. So as we noticed that noises started scaring him we couldn't take it anymore and accepted the invitation of my sister to stay at her house in Jerusalem until things calm down. After the 7 missiles last Friday morning we decided to leave Ashkelon and here we are since then. Even though I love my sister and her family very much, of course it's not easy to leave home (and our dear cat) behind, especially when my son says he wants to go home. So even though I'm not in Ashkelon, I am very stressed still. My parents and grandfather who are neither young nor healthy stayed in Ashkelon and refuse to leave and of course every day I still worry. I  am also very stressed because of our economic situation: it's the second week neither I nor my husband work. We have both independent businesses which we enjoy very much and ran successfully until  weeks ago.Since last Saturday we also have dear people in Gaza fighting which makes us skip a  heartbeat every time the phone rings....

Why am I telling you all this? Well, some of it may be just to share with you what I'm going through, and also to ask if you can be more flexible with the deadlines of the work I have to submit. Even though I'm staying at home (not mine, my sister's) most of the day I barely have time to get to the studies. I'm  having a hard time concentrating late at night when I can finally do something, but I'm pretty exhausted and to tell you the truth also a bit depressed so I'm hardly managing to do something...

I'm really sorry to bother you with this, but I want you to know that studies are still very important to me, I just don't have possibility to do all these assignments you sent and I'm going to need your help and understanding in these difficult times. I'll try to do my best when I can but please allow me to submit the work later,don't know when, I really can't deal with so much pressure at once.

I really appreciate your phone calls and warm words, they're a real comfort.

I hope this letter finds you all also well and safe.

Unfortunately, not as energetic these days as you know me, and much more scared,

Emmi

Just so you know what it has been like, we just had another siren, the 3rd one in less than 2 hours. No sounds of a fall this time. But trust me , just hearing the siren sound, ran one floor down in stairwell to be safer than in the office which has only a tin roof, waiting to hear or not hear the boom , is enough ...

Though I missed the 2 early morning sirens with rockets falls ,we just had 2 more sirens in the past hour. One grad hit directly the gym of an elemantry school . Schools and kindergardens are closed since before Hanuka so NO ONE GOT HURT , this could have ended diffrently !

It's 23:30 . I'm at my sister in law's house, near Tel Aviv with my daughters. Everyone is asleep. The TV is open , news from Gaza. Suddenly they stop the report . 2 sirens ,live , in Ashkeon and Beer Sheva. For 2 minutes there are no details, then the reporter says that the 2 rockets attacks eneded in falls in open fields. Thanks God . I think of all the babies, children , old poeple in Ashkelon and Beer Sheva who just woke up to the horrible sound of a siren. Good night . When I got to Ashkelon this morning I found out that there was another siren at 2:30 am in the morning. I also missed 2 sirens early in the morning- no damages , no casualties...

The show : My Israel

shown for children in shelters, Asheklon ,today .

I spent the day out of Ashkelon today. I had meetings and it was a chance to spend a day without waiting to hear a siren or a kassams fall. My sister in law however spent the day in Ashkelon. She grew up in Ashkelon and left when she got married. She now has a company who does educational and entretainment programs in kindergarden in Tel Aviv & Kfar Saba , near where she lives . She decided to go to Ahkelon with 6 of her staff poeple and volunteer to preform in shelters where kids are staying for hours evrey day . The show they chose "My Israel " enhances the connection between kids and tha State of Israel which became espacially meaningful now days. They were at the entrance of Ashkelon when 2 sirens followed by rockets falling in the city . They stopped the cars , and fell falt on the sand near the road .... After performing in 3 shelters, on their way out of Ashkelon the sirens caught them again, twice ... this time they were near a building and were invited to hide with neighbours they never met before ...When she came back she said they felt soooo good that they had a chance to make the kids happier for a while , and at the same time got a chance to expirience what we feel fevery day lately .

Wed update from Khaya Dinsky

A letter from another Ashkelon resident. ,First of all, since I know that these letters of mine are being forwarded, I'm reminding those that don't know me:I live in Ashkelon. My 19 year old son is a student in Beersheva. There are no classes in the university because of the situation here and he is with his father near Jerusalem. My 17 year old daughter, Simha, was at her father's house near Jerusalem when the operation in Gaza started. She insisted on coming home. Yesterday, Simha's youth movement took a busload of kids out of Ashkelon for a fun day.They saw a movie and got free popcorn and soda and pizza for lunch and then went to a community center for activities like a clown, animal therapy and arts and crafts for the small children, and laughter therapy, and juggling for the older children. There were about thirty kids aged 4-18 and several accompanying adults. One adult brought her elderly mother in order not to leave her alone.Simha said that the movie coplex was opened specially for kids from the south and that all the theaters there were filled with kids from youth groups all over the areaSorry, interrupted by a siren.As I was saying, the theaters were filled with kids from youth groups all over the area that is in rocket range.Sound like a fun day,no? Well, Simha came home all upset. Here is what she had to say:They waited in a bomb shelter for the bus to come. Meanwhile they got instruction.They were told that there is absolutely no standing or moving around on the bus, for anyone until they are out of rocket range. There were told that if the siren goes, there's no way they could all get off the bus in time and it's dangerous for anyone to be standing(shcrapnel or flying glass)so the home front command said that if there's a siren everyone has to crawl under their seats.Simha found that idea terrifying. Because what if a rocket hit the bus and it caught fire???That would leave them all trapped.Simha said that the activities were fun but .... She said she felt like the people that were there(Kfar Saba-look on a map)were like from another country.Specific examples that she gave :The clown had some music (that he always uses) one of the songs started with what sounds like a siren. Kids froze or screamed or ran or tensed up. Simha yelled at him to stop the song. He didn't understand what the problem was.Another example:After school hours, kids from the local youth group there started coming. One of the kids said to one of our kids:"You smell bad, like you haven't showered in a week."The Ashkeloni kid said:"I really haven't showered in a week." The kid from Kfar Saba looked at him like he was some kind of fread and said:" iiiicchh!"Simha also said that the kids from Ashkelon told them that their teachers have all called them(some several times ) to see how they are and that they miss school and want to go back already. The kids from Kfar Saba thought it was strange that anyone would want to go to school and couldn't understand why the teachers are callin if the kids didn't do anything bad.Then the day ended (around 5:30 in the evening) and they had to come home. There were kids that cried and tried to run away. They didn't want to go home, they were afraid. Simha said there were even a couple of kids that had to be picked up and physically placed on the bus/When they got back into rocket range, the person in charge announced that they are not allowed to stand up and they have to be quiet(no singing or yelling) so they can hear if there's a siren because they are back in rocket range. Simha says kids started crying and screaming and banging on the windows.The end to a lovely day.As they approached Ashkelon there was a siren here. The adults in charge decided that no one is going to wait for a bus. They took all the kids that were supposed to go home by bus, divided them up and drove them home.That was the fun day Simha had. By the way, three rockets fell before when the siren went. At least one in a residential area, landed in the yard. Damage to the house and surrounding houses and cars. Lots of anxiety patients. One went into breathing difficulty. No injuries. KHAYA

wed - update from June Narunsky

Update letter from June Narunsky - a mother and grandmother, living in Ashkelon Dear family and friends, Its Wednesday, the twelfth day of the War on Gaza. We went to bed last night, hoping for a quiet and peaceful night. Air force jets and helicopters went over the city in waves, every twenty seven minutes of so. Its amazing what you do when you are woken up in the middle of the night. Every night since the war started we have had UMFVs (unmanned flying vehicles) buzzing about overhead which in a strange way is comforting. This morning we woke to sunshine and sirens going off every few minute in fact while this is being written to you we have a siren going off. This might sound silly to mention but the IDF declared a short pause to allow humanitarian aid to get to the regular people, the people in Gaza who are being used by the Hamas. So I am guessing the Hamas grabbed all the aid, bugger the people and here we go again. This time the rocket fell on the outskirts of Ashkelon. It is so surreal to look out of our window, Ashkelon has literally become a 'ghost town' the home front command which is a wing of the army has closed down all malls and stores and any place where a few people could congregate to minimize injuries. Only supermarkets are open and pharmacies. Every now and again soldiers from the home front command come round and knock on the doors and make sure everyone is okay. A large number of parents have to work and so drop their children off each morning at the municipal shelters of which we have 116 in Ashkelon. The chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Chabad is also the chief Rabbi of Ashkelon and happens to be our Rabbi and a friend and he has organized that Chabad will go from shelter to shelter taking toys, books and puzzles to the children. As for our family, our grandchildren have been very good when all is said and done. They don't have a safe room in their apartment, they go to the safe area with (their mom)Anthy at once but it is of course beginning to tell on them. Little Shirazi has a sore 'tummy' and Meshi took to wetting the bed a couple of times. Ben is still too young to really know what is happening but does not like the siren and now also watches his sisters to see what they do and he goes with them. Oh heck, there goes another siren… third one, however like I was saying, Anthy's apartment block has a shelter in the basement and all the young mothers take their children there to spend the day. They can run wild, play, make a noise and generally let off steam. Mel and I go about as normal a life as possible in the circumstances and have a safe room in our apartment into which we go when there is a siren. We have our computers set up in this room so can communicate with everyone. I hate to think what our phone bills will be (not just ours but everyone's) because as soon as we hear the boom we call everyone near and dear to make sure all is okay! Daily chores like showering and going to the loo are no longer a pleasure!! I used to love a nice leisurely shower in the morning. I have now got it down to four and a half minutes, in the shower, soap, rinse and out. 6 minutes when I wash my hair!! I sure as heck don't want to be caught with my pants down and a few times I just sank down onto the 'throne' when the sirens wailed. I am seriously thinking of changing me name by deed pole to Speedy Narunsky!! In spite of all this, I have to admit life is stressful and like the whole of Am Israel we pray for a quick conclusion to this war. We pray for our soldiers and cry when they are hurt or killed. We do realize that we have to change the reality of the Hamas because they are like the Taliban, they hide behind the shirts of their women and bibs of their children, like moles they dig tunnels under the houses to hide in. They do not give a stuff what happens to the rest of their population, the women, the children, the sick, infirm and old. So why should they worry about what happens to our populations, for all these years children have been born and grown up for eight years in the little town of Sderot, a place where they know nothing but fear. A place where they run off the bus and dash home as fast as they can after school so they can be safe. Children who haven't ever played in the playgrounds and parks because they have to be ten seconds away from shelter. We have faith in our leaders and in our army and we hope that you too will support us. With lots of love,June

3 o'clock in the afternoon. We just had a siren , first one for today. No falls in our area! The Mayor was just interviewing in his office in English for a forgein TV . As we all ran to the stairways , includingf the reporter ( that's where we stand when there are sirens) Benny continued the interview ... Earlier today a group of 40 radio and TV stations reporters from all over the world were invited to a tour organized by The Israel Project . I joined their visit to Barzilai MC, and to our teen center where they had a chance to interview the teens who opertaes the activities in 40 shelters around the city and the children . While we were there a track loaded with candies from a company stopped at the center and boxes were left there for all the shelters around the city.

Today....Maxine's report

Report from Maxine Dorot, an Ashkelon resident of a missile fall a few hours ago: Ashkelon: 19:04 There we were, a sunny Monday morning, averaging maybe one grad/hour from about 10:30 the morning. And once again, the siren wails, we run downstairs under a hallway in my mother-in-law's house. My neice and one of my sons were with here and just as this parade of Dorots gets to the hall, this enormous "BOOM!" shakes the house. "It's here!" my son and husband yell together. "Nobody move!" We waited for less than a minute (although you have to wait 5 but we couldn't) and ran outside, noticing that the window over the kitchen sink had a huge hole in it and what was left was all cracked. Smoke was coming from the houses across the street and at first, we thought it was there. Then we thought it had landed around our friends' house behind those houses and knowing Miki was alone and on the hysterical side, ran over to her house. By the time we got to the corner, sirens, ambulance, police, Home Front Command, t.v., cameramen, neighbors I hadn't seen for years and neighbors I had never seen in my life, you name it, were already there and the police were taping the site with red tape, like the kind they use at a crime scene (well, it is a crime...). We ran across the street to Miki's and by the time we got there, not more than 5 minutes after the grad had landed, teams of Home Front Command were already going door to door to see if everyone was okay. Amazing! After making sure our friend was okay (her husband had to leave his car 2 blocks away and walk because the street was full of service vehicles) we made our way back home but of course, I had to see what was going on. The grad had landed only a few feet from the last house on the street, one owned by a rabbi and his wife (daughter of the city rabbi) and I kept staring and repeating "It's a miracle" because it was. It's also the route we take daily when walking the dog at night. A miracle. A tiny bit to the left or right, a little bit more to the east or west and it would have landed on a house....maybe even mine! As I was standing there, I was approached by a Brazilian newsman (Global TV) who asked if he could speak to me. The first thing I thought of was "Aww! No make-up!" but what the heck, no one in Brazil knows me. Suddenly, in the middle of our interview, there was another alarm and everyone ran, literally, for his life. I followed some Home Front people and we ran into the yard of a house and crouched low; others just went down, flat on the ground, hands over their heads. It was like being in a movie. Totally surreal and unreal. There may have been, 30 seconds earlier, 60-70 people on site and within seconds, everyone had scrambled and except for the 3 on the ground, there wasn't anyone there. After the all-clear, only some of the crowd went back towards "my grad" while the rest went running up the road towards the 2nd one which had fallen in a neighborhood about 6 minutes away by car. My phone started ringing and it was my husband screaming, "Where are you? Get home!" and this time I did. Fast. We've gotten invitations from so many people to stay with them til this is over, people we know well, vaguely or not at all, and this is what makes this country special. Meanwhile we're here. We figure the statistics are on our side, but if we do leave, it'll be to a hotel somewhere in the country that gives special rates to refugees from the north. And I'll make sure it's a 5 star one. Maxine ----------------------------------- There is an article in www.ashkelonim.co.il that Ehud Barak rented an apartment in Ashkelon, and furnished it with furniture he bought in Ashkelon at the popular furniture store Tiv Rehitim. You can see a photo of the bedroom suite that he purchased on the site. We are wondering if and when he will spend the night here? http://www.ashkelonim.co.il/index.php?act=articles&id=3111

Sirens all day today

Well , I was REALLY wrong ... This is defenitly not a quiet day ... We had 5 sirens within2 hours and a few falls around the city , one very close to my house ...Again phisical damage , no casualties , someone is watching us from up there ...Praying for quiet times !!!! Before I had a chance to press "publish to blog" we had another siren and I had to run one floor down with the rest of the poeple in the building. This time it fell pass Ashkelon , an open feild.

"Hands on Tzedakah" donate supplies

After a relative quiet 24 hours, this morning seemed to be calm. It's a beautiful sunny day out side. We recieved a generous donation form "Hands on Tzedakah" ( Boca Raton , Florida ), an organization that already funded 2 other teens projects in Ashkelon. The money is designated for supplies ,toys and games that our teens volunteer are using to keep children busy , in shelters while their parents go to work. The first day 9 shelters were opened , and today, a week later- 39 !!! So, Dafna Biton , the Amen coordinator and I went to buy kits for the children at the shelter that was just renovated by "Hands on Tzedakah ".( Boca Raton, Florida ) The other part of the shelter was turned into a music room , funded by the "Arlene and Sheldon Bearman family foundation". You know me, I can't say no to shopping. Well, we had 2 sirens when we left the shelter , and when we got back ...But our mission was completed, all the stuff will be there this afternoon. Whlie I was there a company from Tel Aviv sent 6 counselors with animals- rabbits, hamsters, mice , so the kids can play with them. Sakal , and Lev Ohev sent 30 kits of musical instruments to amuse the kids and games that will be distributed to the shelters. It'a amazing to see our Teens, Amen volunteers , take such a role in making sure the home front is functioning , the kids are taken care of, and children are happy and smiling and most important - safe .

Watch Israel TV news LIVE

From Nicole, writing from Portugal:

Unbelievably, I'm currently away, on a previously planned vacation to Europe, right in the middle of the current situation.... I thought about cancelling but it wasn't possible, so here I am...

It's been very strange (and difficult) to be away from home at such a crucial time, while worrying about the situation, and about family and friends at home and in the army. Of course I have been trying to watch news, and keep in touch whenever I can.

Anyway, if like me, you have had enough of the BBC and CNN and are desperate to hear first-hand news, you can watch Israeli TV news LIVE (in Hebrew of course) on your pc at these sites:

http://www.mako.co.il/news

http://www.nana10.co.il/

http://www.iba.org.il/media/?recorded=tv

Nicole

Update - NYC Mayor visits Ashkelon

After a hectic weekend in Ashkelon , sirens and rockets falls , yesterday 2nd stage of the Gaza war started. We now have our soldiers , inside Gaza. Each one of us has someone special to worry about , and we all worry about all of our soldiers.

Our prayers and thoughts are with them.Everyone is watching the news , to hear how are things are going . Ehud Barak , in his speech to the nation last night said it's going to be long , and the price will be heavy , but we have no other choice. Join our prayers! Sigal

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is now in Ashkelon, meeting the city leadership, to show his support in Israel and to the people of Ashkelon, also visited wounded in Ashkelon's Barlizai Medical Center with hospital director Shimon Scharf and mayor Benny Vaknin, see below. Nicole

photo by gil yohanan

Saturday A rocket hit - near my inlaws house

Oh my god !!! We just saw live on TV , my parents inlaws' house got a direct hit from a rocket!!!!! . Anat (the spokesperson of the municipality) called me to check their house number and she told me it got hit . They are here with us. Thank god , the palm tree in the front of the house got burned with some plants . They are here with us , panic to see thier yard on fire -watching it, live on Tv! Thank god they are here ....Ok now it's 45 minutes later , and things are not as bad as we thought. The grad hit a shelter 70 meters away , its ingine flew and hit the yard. a tree caught fire and on TV, as we watched, we saw the fire and smoke and my parents in law were terrified. Luckily , other than the tree and a swing that burned down , nothing happened to the house.

Luckily they are here with us and didn't hear the boom in their yard.

photos from ashkelonim site

this is a bus that was damaged by the same missile

Friday update

Direct hit on house in Ashkelon today - photo Gil Yochanan

photos from todays rocket fall in Ashkelon from "ashkelonim" site

It's 4:30 , just before Shabat .Half an hour ago 3 rockets hit Ashkelon . This time one hit directly a house in a neighborhood next to where I live. On the TV I see the houses that I recognise so well. No one got hurt , the other 2 fell in open spaces. Poeple are all dresses up for Shabat , some are getting ready to go to sysynagogue. This weekend some synagogues will be locked because they are not protected or don't have sheltered areas. Shabat Shalom

7:45 in the morning I called Anat , munipical spokesperson my next door neighbour and freind the check how last night was. As we were talking she suddnley disconnected me. I called my husband , he was under the stairs ( our safe area in the house), after 3 sirens and 6 grad falls. One house got hit, one woman got lightly hurt from falling pieces , and lots of panic poeple . Shabat Shalom...

Shalom to all my freinds, far away but close by heart. I'm sitting at my sister in-laws living room , an hour away from home , but in a diffrent world. It's difficult to explain to you all what it is like to be in Ashkelon now days. Our quiet city , the beach , parks , marina . They are all a war zone. It's hard to write this , it's very difficult to live it. For a while we had kassams randomally landing in the city . Sirens , crying kids , worried paretnts .Schools and kindergardens that were not built for war. Since Saturday , this became our reality: sirens, kassams and grads misels falling out of the blue. Tens of rockets everyday, day and night. You can never get used to these terrifing sounds , the sirens and the "boom" once they hit the ground, never. You know what you should do, run to the nearest sheltered area, you don't think , you run! Sunday I sent my kids to my family in Tel Aviv. They shouldn't be here when all the craziness is happening. You are affraid to go to the shower , bathroom , in case there's a siren. You leave the door open , and do it quickly ...Even for me. an adult it's scary. I go to bed and dream that there are sirens, I walk between the kids' rooms to check that they are ok... They are here since Sunday , away from their friends , a lot of them left the city too, away from their home and everyday's life. My oldest wants to go back home.The little one , goes to school here with her cousin , and doesn't want to go back where the kassams are falling and you hide under the table during classes when there's a siren. She is only 7 , what does she know? I'm here now too, I need a normal quiet weekend before going back home. It's not easy to share with you , poeple that I know, that we are not all super heros. We don't know how long this will take, but as long as it takes , we'll be strong and give our support to our leaders . We can't live under constant threat of teror. Your love and caring means a lot to me and to your friends in Ashkelon . In times like this you know who your friends are ! Praying for queit and peace , Sigal