Monday

Pleased to report that it's quiet and peaceful in Ashkelon today. Keep your fingers crossed that it lasts!

Today - another rocket

How crazy!! Nicole and I are sitting in the office, 4th floor, from where we have an excellent view southward when suddenly we heard what sounded like a jet plane and then a distant boom. Looking out the window we saw the smoke plume of another successful rocket interception.
There was no siren warning.
Never a dull moment.

April 9th - Saturday

We had a quiet Shabbat morning but in the afternoon , just before 5 pm and again at 6 .pm there were 2 sirens . Rockets were heading to our city from Gaza and Iron Dome intercepted some of them, not all .

Gily went with a friend from school and her family to the Lunapark in tel Aviv, they wanted the kids to have a peaceful Shabat and invited her too. I was sooo happy she wasn't here .

I took Shir and Ron to Ashdod to do some fun and shopping. We had just left for Ashdod when the first siren caught us just outside Ashkelon on the highway. I stopped the car and the 3 of us hid behind the bus station , not quite sure how effective this was , but this is what you are suppose to do. The second siren we heard while we were in Ashdod talking with my mother-in-law , in Ashkelon, on the phone . 

Nicole was out walking her dogs when she heard the distant siren and the booms. In the fields there is nowhere to hide, so she just watched the Iron Dome shooting the rocket out of the sky, leaving a puff and white smoke trail (see her photos below)

Follow the news in ynetnews.com

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4054360,00.html

http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3083,00.html

Passover vacation started on Friday so no school or kindergarten,  the kids will be home from tomorrow.

Nicole's photos from her walk today:

a very bright day, taking the photo into the sun (At night this would look like fireworks) .Look carefully to see the trail of the rocket after the Iron Dome blasted it into pieces.

Nicole's dog Heidi and the Iron Dome defense system in action in the background

The fields are full of red poppies - Spring!

Friday night in Ashkelon

All afternoon and evening we heard Iron Dome system intercepting rockets , at one point 3 at once .The last one was around 9 pm. We went to sleep and woke up at 4 am to the familiar sound of a siren. This meant Iron Dome missed a rocket going our direction .

We ran under the stairway which is what we can do in 30 seconds and waited. No boom sound was heard . After a couple of minutes we went back upstairs .Gily, ( 9 years old) took her blancket and pillow to sleep in the living room , much closer to the safe area in our house . Ron , 16 was on facebook with all his friends that were all up. 

It was difficult to go back to sleep .In the morning I saw on the news that the siren was a rocket that passed Ashkelon and Ashdod and landed in an open field . Beer Sheva had a successful interception too. Kiryat Gat that doesn't have a system , was target too. Shabat morning, we are hoping for a quiet day.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4054207,00.html

Rockets on Ashkelon

Though we all felt very reliefed to hear that Iron Dome sysytem succsessfully intercepted a grad rocket from Gaza, we have many reasons to worry . Ehud Barak said that the system is not a 100% effective, and we need to keep in mind that in order to prevent the rocket from hitting Ashkelon , 2 rockets were launched, they cost 40,000$ each , to stop a 200$ grad ....

 In Kfar Aza though , an anti tank rocket was aimed from Gaza to hit a yellow school bus . Luckily it was the end of its route so there were just the driver and one kid on the bus. The 16 years old kid was severly hurt . 

Shabat shalom , and quiet ...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4053704,00.html

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4054090,00.html

Grad exploded in Ashkelon today

Boy , was I happy this morning that the Diller kids from Baltimore have left town... No offence.

At 8:30 am I was food shopping for the weekend, with my daughter Shir at Cosmos shopping center, right outside of Ashkelon, this is why we didn't hear the siren or the Grad rocket that fell and exploded not too far from the Delila beach....

I started getting calls from my husband, my mom, friends, Gily (who was at summer day camp at the time but was still updated thanks to a concerned parent) .

On the way home, like every Ashkelonian who owns a car we drove past the place where the rocket exploded. I couldn't believe how close it was to a fully occupied apartment building of 10 floors!

Another miracle escape: Nothing happened , just a few damaged cars, blasted out windows, and trauma victims.

My first thought was: "Thank god the Diller kids are back home..."

My mother in law called, she swims at the beach every morning. They were all in the water when the lifeguard told them to go out of ther water quickly and lay on the sand ... in a few seconds they heard the boom not far from them. And, in my mother in law own words: "well , it wasn't fun" .... Shabat Shalom and a safe weekend to all.

See YNET report: "Rocket explodes in heart of Ashkelon"

and photos on ASHKELONIM

Fortifying Schools in Ashkelon

The Minister of Religious Affairs, Itzhak Cohen has notified Shlomo Cohen, Ashkelon's Deputy Mayor, that the government has approved the plan to fortify the unprotected schools and kindergartens in Ashkelon against rocket attacks. Minister Cohen, a resident of Ashkelon, assisted the communication between Ashkelon and the government - with the help of Yuli Tamir, the Minister of Education.

The program will start in schools and kindergartens that currently have no bomb shelters or other protection against rocket attacks. The project will be funded by the Ministry of Defence. Mobile reinforced concrete shelters ("Miguniyot") will be placed in schoolyards.

Mayor Benny Vaknin said that he hopes the execution will be quick and take place without delay - because of the security situation. Saturday's rocket attack, where a missile damaged a school was a graphic demonstration of what can happen in the case of unprotected educational institutions.

The above photo shows a teacher in the wreckage-strewn computer lab at the school in Ashkelon that was hit by a Hamas rocket this last Saturday. (Photo by Joshua Mitnick: http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c40_a15075/News/Israel.html)

Getting ready for school

Last night we got a text message from the parents committee of one of our kids' school that there will be a strike tomorrow in all the schools in Ashkelon , exept 10th to 12th grade students that have final exams coming up soon. Saturday's grad rocket, an improved one, that destroyed a highschool , changed all the rules . If this had happened on a school day the results would have been horrible - it is a true miracle it was a Saturday !

So: The teachers will be at the classes ,schools will be open , but the parents were asked to keep the kids at home.Each parent can decide what to do with his kids ! OK , a dilema , what should I do ? I have 3 kids , each goes to a diffrent school.

My youngest one, in 2nd grade ,goes to a school with even no minimal security .It's very old and the classrooms are unprotected. The kids hide under the tables when there's a siren or next to a northern wall ??? ... I have to go to work so I took her to her afternoon club , that is now open since the morning , and we pay extra. My son's school has sheltered areas, but he is 8th grade , most of his friends are staying at home , so he doesn't want to be alone in the class , he stayed home , a day off ... My oldest goes to the Art school , again old buildings , one shelter for 400 children ! She is on 12th grade , final test are soon. I took her to school ,she must study for the matric tests .

Shlomo Cohen , our deputy mayor ,says the Municipality supports the PTI , and join their demand from the governement to fortify and sheild all the educational institute in Ashkelon . At the same time , he realizes that closing the school paralizes the entire city .

Update

Shrapnel damage to reinforced concrete school walls on Saturday (Pic: Itai Levi - Haaretz)

When Hamas rockets explode, they scatter ballbearings, nails and sharp shards of metal that slice into anything in their way

We just got a message that there will be no school tomorrow , except 10th-12th grade that have final exam coming up soon. The rocket that hit the high school yesterday was an improved one , biggest ever. This is why it penetrated the metal door and walls, broke through the concrete which was relied on to protect students and teachers from an attack. Only the fact that it was Saturday when there was no school, prevented a tragedy.

There are 10 schools , including my youngest daughter's school , and 22 kindergardens that have NO shelters or protected areas. The 50 schools and 120 kindergardens that have partial protection have no protection for these kind of rockets . The rockets are getting bigger, more powerful, with improved aim and longer range.

All the schools in Ashkelon will be closed until the government decides to fortify all the schools . Shlomo Cohen was interviewed on channel 2 tv , said that the governement refuses to take action in protecting the schools therefore he understands the parents' committee's decision. The teachers will be at all the schools , and the parents can decide what to do with the kids ! What a balagan !

Meanwhile another rocket hit Sderot this evening . In all , 7 rockets fired from Gaza, today. Channel 2 TV reported on Thursday that new more powerful longer-range rockets are STILL coming in to Gaza through the tunnels.

Shows a crater where One of the Grad rockets landed, on Saturday (pic: Yonatan Legayev, ynet)

Shabbat rocket - Damage to School

We now have the information about where this morning's rockets fell. One of the rockets fell in an open space in a highly populated residential area (another miraculous escape), but one of them hit a school. On Shabbat morning all the students were at home ... (yet another miracle).

The rocket caused a lot of damage to the school. Classrooms were destroyed. This is one of the schools that has no proper protection or safe shelter - the "safe area' that pupils were supposed to gather in, in case of a rocket attack, was badly hit by many pieces of shrapnel. The rockets are full of ballbearings and sharp shards of metal that slice into anything in their way. You can see the result in the photos below.

Municipality service teams that were on standby because of the stormy weather, are now out on the job, sealing windows of apartments in the area, that were blown out by the blast or hit by shrapnel.

Obviously, the school that was hit will not be open tomorrow (Sunday of course is a regular school day in Israel) and other solutions will be found for the students. At the moment, the order is that the other schools will open, but the situation can change, and a meeting will be held after Shabbat to decide if other schools will open.

We hope that the next hours (and days, and weeks, and months) will be quiet.

(this photo AP on ynet)

Shabbat rocket attack

This from Maxine:

Here i am, 8:45 a.m., in a deep sleep when all of a sudden, I hear a siren. I thought I was dreaming until I realized it was real...Shani came bursting into our room, Rafi and iIjumped up, I ran for my sweater which had been strategically placed when all this started months ago (in case I am in my p.j.s and have to evacuate the house), Yehiel, shani's boyfriend, half asleep and not used to this because he lives in Jerusalem, following behind. This siren was a double one and we all ran, dogs following.

Before we got to our "safe place" (a hallway downstairs), and before my mother-in-law could get out of bed, there was a tremendous "boom" followed by a softer one; we knew it was close, thinking it might have been a few blocks behind us. Tal is usually the one to find out first where it fell but he was already on his way to work about 20 minutes north of here. The softer boom fell in the industrial area of the city, on the southern side and not close to us.

Just for good measure, and as instructed by homefront command, we stayed put for about 2 more minutes (they say 5 but who has the patience?) and then the phone started ringing. The grad fell on the campus of the school i used to teach at - a 10 minute walk from here and a 3 minute car drive. According to the news, there's been some structural damage and 7 people are being treated for shock. there are apartment buildings all around the school. nice ones.

We heard the sirens of the emergency vehicles and then everyone, but me, went back to sleep which is what they're all doing now. Lucky them!

I don't know if this is the start of hostilities all over again, although there have been 101 missiles shot in the area from Gaza up to ashkelon (but always up to the outskirts of the city) till now.

Upper echelon municipality workers were all called in to the city's "war room" (an underground, protected room with computers, maps, phones to the army, etc).

Who has the strength to go through all this again?

Well, better get the Oreos ready.

Not again !!!

Saturday , 8:45 in the morning... Last night was very stormy , strong winds and thunder. This is why I was sure I was dreaming ..... it must be the wind again when Gily , my 7 year old daughter , opened the bedroom door and screamed : "Mom , quickly , a siren !!!" ... I grabbed her , knowing we don't have time to run outside to the bomb shelter , both of us screaming to Shir , my oldest , who came running from her room. We went to our safe place in the house - under the stairs. Ron , my son, is sleeping at my in-laws house , not far from us. The siren was long , longer than I remembered . Once it stopped we heard 2 loud booms. They definitely hit somewhere near us, in the neighborhood. I called Anat (the municipality spokewoman) , after 10 minutes. She was getting ready to go to the municipality control room. She checked with Shlomo (deputy mayor) too. On information where the rockets fell ,maybe it's good , no one reported anything yet . I'll let you know once I know. I just got a text message from Anat: 2 grad rockets hits in the city both in open spaces in our neighborhood. The municipal war room is re-open till further notice.

Rainy Weekend

This weekend was really stormy, windy and rainy. This is why in our neighborhood the rocket alert siren in the southern area wasn't heard - we all had our windows tightly closed against the weather. On the news we saw that at 10:20 last night a kassam rocket fell in an open field in the southern part of Ashkelon.

This weekend kassams and mortars were fired on the western Negev. ( http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3675270,00.html )

Meanwhile we still have no prime minister. Bibi is trying to form a government that will include Kadima, we wish him good luck!

Yet Another ceasefire rocket fired on Ashkelon

We didn't really think it's all over , but the reminders are very scary. We were driving back from Sderot around 1 o'clock , coming back from Nihum Avelim (Shiva, mourning condolence call) , our friend lost her mother , and she lives in Sderot . Anat , the municipal spokesperson was in the car with us, she has a bipper that rings whenever there's a siren . We were far from Sderot, no sirens , so all we felt relieved. As we were driving through the industrial southern area her bipper annonced a siren , in the ... southern industrial area!!! We heard nothing (the radio was on , windows closed and we 4 were all talking). As we reached the municipality building poeple said that the siren was heard in the southern neiborhoods and so was the rocket that fell in an open field. Another one fell in the sea . I was happy that the siren wasn't heard all over Ashkelon , so the children didn't hear it , again... I called my "other kids"- the Otzma students. 2 of the girls were out, shopping, they ran in circles because they had no idea where to run. They are all ok. Tomorrow a psychologist is coming to speak with them .

Grad for breakfast

This morning 7:10, a siren woke my kids. Together we all ran for our safe place under the stairs (no time to get out to the bomb shelter in the yard), and then we heard the boom. The grad fell in an open area near the road, not far from where we work .It's incredible how fragile the ceasefire is. My Gily said "You see mom, I told you there would be another grad". Schools are balagan. Some are open , very few kids showed up . Gily's school is closed. I took her to grandmother's for the day. The Arts school is open , in Shir's class 2 students out of 40 came... Ron is at a high school that is relatively new , and it has safe shelter areas, 11 kids showed up out of 35 in his class . Mayor Benny Vaknin said there will be a consultation with Home front command to decide whether the schools will open or not ...

Damage in a bus that was standing near the open area where the grad fell this morning

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

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.

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

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