_a.jpg "Photo: Ahiya Raved")
_a.jpg "Photo: Ahiya Raved")
Blast victim: Fire around us didn't stop
Eight people injured in mortar attacks on north treated at Nahariya hospital; man saved despite his car sustaining direct hit
"My car suffered a direct mortar hit. The fire around us didn't stop for a second, but I managed to escape from the car, just before it was hit a second time," Azulai said.
Azulai said he was on his way back from his orchards in the border town of Zar'it, where he had gone to warn his son of the shelling by Hizbullah.
"When I heard the bombardments I left for the orchards to warn my son. He managed to leave the area unharmed," Azulai said.
"There has been a change in the security situation lately, but we didn't receive orders not to leave to the fields - although we were asked to provide updates on our entrances and exits, and so we did," he said.
The Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya was put on high alert after Hizbullah's attack. Six civilians and two soldiers wounded in Hizbullah mortar attacks were treated at the hospital.
One of the injured was said to be in a serious condition, two were moderately injured and five were lightly injured.
Ashkar Taliaa, 34, was renovating a house in the village of Shtula when he was wounded by mortar shrapnel.
"I heard a loud explosion and felt heat all over my body. Another explosion blew me aside. I saw smoke outside the house and mortars landing and I didn't understand what was happening. I thought about my wife and my five-year-old baby and I just wanted to get out of there alive. My partner pulled me outside and IDF soldiers and paramedics arrived and evacuated me from the scene," he said.
'I can't remember an incident like this'
Dr. Jack Stolero, manager of the emergency center, said: "The seriously wounded victim, who is not a soldier, was taken to the emergency room after his condition stabilized, but he remains in serious condition. The rest of the wounded are suffering from shrapnel wounds, shock waves and other injuries all over their bodies."
In the Shlomi and Maale Yossef regional councils, residents were asked to take shelter in underground bunkers. In Nahariya, the municipality decided to transfer children in summer camps to safer locations.
Army vehicles could be seen on roads leading to the border, but there was little civilian traffic.
Zar'it residents said the Hizbullah attack started at about 9 a.m.
"At around nine in the morning there was a very loud and prolonged explosion accompanied by light and heavy fire…I can't remember an incident like this in the recent past, not since the IDF left Lebanon," a resident said.
Another resident said he saw an IDF vehicle on fire at the scene of the attack. A hummer was also seen on the scene where the soldiers were kidnapped.
Ahiya Raved contributed to this report
