Five More Kassams at Sderot
At least six rockets hit the city over the Sabbath; close to 20 rockets and mortar shells were fired at the western Negev area, causing injuries and damage.
Residents Forced to Return?
Dozens of Sderot residents put up in hotels across Israel were surprised on Saturday night by letters informing them that they would have to leave their rooms by Sunday morning. The residents were given a free vacation from their rocket-pocked homes by Russian-Israeli billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak, and were under the impression they would be allowed to stay in the hotels until after the Shavuot festival, which begins Tuesday evening.
Officials explained to the Maariv daily newspaper that the letters were issued since there are 800 other families waiting for vacations and 200 waiting to be evacuated from the city.
Residents expressed fear about returning home to Sderot, explaining that several rockets had fallen during their absence. Some said that rockets had landed near their homes. “We’re not going back until there’s quiet and our children’s lives aren’t in danger,” one mother told Maariv.
Sderot Wants Declaration of Emergency
The Sderot municipality said it would ask the government to declare a state of emergency in the city and surrounding towns Sunday. The decision was made in a meeting on Saturday between Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal, city officials, and security officials.
Sources in the government said that Sderot and other towns in the western Negev could be granted the sub-emergency status of border towns near a combat zone, the same status granted to cities along the border with Lebanon. The new status would affect government aid to the area, and could grant residents various financial incentives.
Since last Tuesday (May 15), over 125 Kassam rockets have been launched at the western Negev - 40 over the weekend. 10 people were lightly wounded in the weekend attacks - seven suffered from shock.
Bereaved Father Helps Sderot
Shomron resident Boaz Shabo, who lost his wife and three of his children in a terrorist attack in the Shomron town of Itamar in 2002, has decided to spend his days in Sderot helping the embattled community face dozens of rocket attacks.
Shabo explained that his volunteer service helps him to deal with his grief, and that his children support his efforts. He also volunteered in the north during the Second Lebanon War, and says he goes wherever his help is most needed.
Shabo has been a volunteer paramedic with Magen David Adom for many years. He joins MDA crews in responding to rocket attacks and treating wounded at the sites. When the other paramedics leave, Shabo remains, in case wounded people suffering from shock have hidden near the scene of the attack, as has happened in some terrorist bombings.
Mofaz: Kill Terror Leaders, Fast
by Gil Ronen
(IsraelNN.com) Minister of Transportation Shaul Mofaz says the IDF needs to start eliminating the terror groups' leaders, as it did when he was Minister of Defense.
In an interview on Channel 2 Saturday, Mofaz said: "We have some good starts here, there are steps being taken against the terror masters, [but] we need to reach the leadership, quickly. Every one who has his hands in terrorism needs to be on the crosshairs of the State of Israel."
The municipality of the rocket-ravaged town of Sderot announced that Mofaz was the only person who has a record of operating against the terror rockets and endorsed him as its preferred candidate for Minister of Defense. Sderot invited Mofaz to a defense discussion scheduled to take place in the town Sunday morning. He will also tour some of the spots hit by rockets recently.
Mofaz was Minister of Defense during the "Disengagement" from Gaza and the destruction of Gush Katif. The rockets Sderot is now suffering from are being launched from the territory Israel evacuated at that time.
The Sderot municipality's spokesman, Yossi Cohen, said it is hard to understand why the government is continuing its policy of restraint even after several houses were directly hit last week and one of the town's residents was badly injured.
Terror rocket attacks by Gaza terrorists continued for Saturday. The "Color Red" warning system was activated three times during the day.
By 9 p.m. Saturday night, a dozen terror rockets and 5 mortar shells had hit areas in the Negev, and the rockets were still falling. Six of the rockets fell in Sderot. One rocket caused considerable damage to a factory in Sderot's industrial zone and another burst a water pipe, halting the flow of water to some of the city's residents for several hours.
By 9 p.m. Saturday night, a dozen terror rockets and 5 mortar shells had hit areas in the Negev
One person was lightly injured by shrapnel when a rocket hit a house in Neve Eshkol, and four others suffered from shock in the attack. All were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon for treatment. Three other people in Zohar, a "moshav" (agricultural community) near Gaza, were also treated for shock when a rocket hit near them. Even the dead had no quiet Saturday: terrorists fired a rocket at the cemetery in Kfar Maimon, and another was fired later at the Sderot cemetery. No damage was reported in either attack.
The five mortar shells fell near the security fence, in the vicinity of Sufa. No casualties or damage have been reported.
Two IDF soldiers whose unit was operating on the border with Gaza late Saturday were injured by an anti-tank missile fired by Gaza terrorists. The soldiers were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon with moderate to light injuries. Meanwhile, three Gaza terrorists were killed and five wounded when IAF attacked a terrorist cell preparing to fire rockets at Israeli targets.
In an interview with Israel Radio, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that the IDF would continue to attack Hamas targets in order to pressure Gaza residents to restrain the rocket attacks on Israel. "The Palestinians need to understand that Hamas is leading them into disaster, a real disaster," Peretz said. "It is our intention to act against Hamas."
"Note: Talk is cheap and the hot air from the Government could fill a billion balloons. If the Government cannot defend our cities and towns, then perhaps other measures to secure our communities and protect our citizens is warranted." Blogmaster
Gas Station, Private House Hit by Rockets in Sderot
(IsraelNN.com) Sderot residents awakened to the scream of Color Red alert sirens Friday morning, announcing that school would have to be closed for a third day.
Nine rockets were fired at Sderot and other western Negev communities Friday morning, five exploding in Sderot and the other three in other communities by mid-morning.
One of the rockets exploded in a Sderot gas station in town, lightly wounding one person. Another scored a direct hit on a private home. Four people suffered shock in the attack. Three other residents were hit by a spray of shrapnel by a different Kasssam rocket and rushed to Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital.
Three rockets landed in open areas around the town, two on the Sapir College campus and one near the Sderot cemetery. No one was injured and no damage was caused by these attacks.
The rocket attacks forced Sderot officials to cancel school for a third day in light of the security conditions, despite Mayor Eli Moyal’s insistence Thursday that classes would resume.
Two of the missiles landed in areas south of Ashkelon and another one exploded in the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council area, touching off a brush fire.
One rocket exploded in an area next to Kfar Maimon -- the first time in a year that a rocket has landed so close to Netivot.
Two Pensioners’ party ministers, Health Minister Yaakov Ben Izri and Rafi Eitan, Minister of Pensioner Affairs arrived a short time ago arrived in Sderot a short time ago to show their support and solidarity with the traumatized community.
Eitan said Thursday that he would work with the Eshel organization to send approximately 2,000 pensioners from Sderot to a weekend vacation on Friday. Pensioners will stay for free at hotels in Jerusalem and near the Dead Sea. The vacations will cost approximately two million shekels.
The Tourism Association and local hotels in Eilat have offered to give 250 residents of Sderot three free days in Eilat hotels, with meals included. The Telran manpower company is offering 40 job positions to Sderot vacationers.
After Sderot, Ben-Yizri will be visiting the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, where most regional rocket attack victims have been treated.
Rocket Fire Completes a Torah Scroll Ceremony in Sderot
(IsraelNN.com) Hamas terrorists did not succeed late Thursday night to prevent a Torah scroll from reaching its ark in a Sderot synagogue, but it was a close contest.
A rocket fired from Gaza slammed into a synagogue just minutes after some 300 celebrants had left after the hours-long ceremony bringing the Torah scroll to its new home.
The 3-rocket attack punctuated a day in which more than 20 Kassams were fired at the western Negev by the Hamas terrorists who rule the Palestinian Authority government.
The house of prayer was damaged and those who had remained to tidy up after the joyful dancing, left the synagogue in tears, many suffering shock.
Some pointed to the Divine protection that had shielded the hundreds of dancing and singing Jews who had left the building just moments before. “If people had not gone home,” said Moti Shitrit,” many would have been killed. G-d rescued us.” Mr. Shitrit was one of those who had stayed to clean up.
The barrage of rocket fire also missed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who had arrived with Defense Minister Amir Peretz shortly before in an unannounced visit to the town.
Bodyguards and security people hustled the surprised prime minister into one of the shelters he had ostensibly come to inspect, as the Color Red missile alert system wailed its warning.
The entourage, which included Kadima MK Otniel Schneller, visited one of the houses that sustained a direct hit by a rocket earlier in the day, met with Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal, and had coffee at Peretz’s home with his wife and two children.
"It was important for me to come here tonight, so you would know you are not alone," the prime minister told Sderot residents during the visit. "We all feel your pain and understand your anxiety. The government will do everything in its power for your and the country's security," he assured them.
One irate resident tried to gain access to the defense minister’s home as the entourage chatted inside. “The prime minister is a coward,” shouted Aryeh Cohen. “You came like a thief in the night with all your bodyguards. I want to talk to you.”
Nor did Mr. Cohen spare the defense minister in his outrage. “Peretz is a bigger coward than you are. He’s living in a fortified house, while we don’t even have shelters!”
While doing IDF (Israel Defence Forces) reserve duty on a mountain overlooking the 
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