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)

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.

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 .

Otzmaniks: An eventful first day

Our 5 Otzmaniks arrived in Ashkelon yesterday evening to start their two months of community volunteer work in Ashkelon. Emily, Jamie, Suzanne, Warner and Jared are full of motivation and energy and looking forward to getting to know Ashkelon and making their mark.

This morning they were woken by the rocket-attack siren, and ran for the stairwell, along with other Kalanit student residents. According to Alizka Yarden, charismatic head of Kalanit, the building is very strong, built of prestressed cast concrete blocks. There are two bomb shelters inside the Kalanit building, one of them houses a small gymnasium, and has equipment and a trainer.

Alizka, a warm and wonderful woman who looks after Kalanit's residents

After a breakfast meeting with Sigal & Nicole, and Dganit head of Otzma program, everyone headed out to see the volunteer locations.

Despite the early morning grad wake-up, it was a sunny, beautiful day today, and everyone in Ashkelon was out and about as usual. Together we visited Halperin Home for Senior Citizens, a number of "Moadoniot" (child care facilities for at risk children) and spotted the locations of the elementary schools where some of the Otzmaniks will be working.

Making friends at the Moadonit

The little ones, taking their mid morning nap inside the shelter

It was a busy morning but our Otzmaniks had the afternoon off to get organized at Kalanit, and will start working tomorrow.

See more photos of OTZMA Here (Nicole )

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

Benny Vaknin Visits Missile Landing site

Photos of Ashkelon's Mayor Benny Vaknin visiting the building site near the municipality, where

a grad rocket from Gaza killed an Arab Israeli construction worker.

Nicole