Rocket hits home in Peki'in in Galilee

10 suffer light wounds, shock went heavy rocket barrage pounds north. Four rockets land in open areas, fifth hits home which was luckily empty at the time. Earlier rockets landed in Akko, Safed, and Rosh Pina

Hagai Einav|Last update: 07.28.06 , 13:54

Day 17: A heavy barrage of rockets launched by Hizbullah in south Lebanon hit the village of Peki'in in te Galilee next to Maalot at around 11:00 a.m. Friday.

Five rockets hit the community, four of which landed in open areas but the fifth directly hit a home. Ten people suffered light injuries and shock.

Home hit in Peki'in (Photo: Niv Calderon)

Fire fighting crews from the western Galilee and Magen David Adom teams searched the area and treated the wounded.

At around 1:00 p.m. air raid sirens were heard again in Haifa and Akko. No reports of rocket strikes on the area were received yet.

Earlier a barrage of four rockets fired by Hizbullah in south Lebanon landed Friday around 8:00 a.m. in the Akko area. Police and army forces searching the area found two of the landing sites. One of the rockets hit and damaged a building; no wounded were reported.

At around 9:00 a.m., two salvos pounded open areas in Safed, and a third was fired at an Upper Galilee community. No wounded or damages were reported in either attack.

After a relatively quiet night, at 7:45 a.m. northern residents were jarred by the shriek of sirens in Akko, Carmiel, Haifa, the Krayot and other communities in the regions. Residents were called to enter bomb shelters and protected areas, and just moments later the echoes of the blasts could be heard reverberating throughout the north.

Rockets: Day 16

Starts with rockets, ends with mortars

Hagai Einav

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Day 16: Starts with rockets, ends with mortars

Apart from the rocket hits on Akko, forces were checking whether any rockets landed in the western Galilee, though thus far police said no hits had been located.

On Thursday Israel was hit by 83 rockets, and Galilee panhandle communities suffered a number of mortar shell strikes as well.

Magen David Adom spokesperson Yeruham Mendola said medics treated over 70 wounded Thursday in 43 different incidents in the Galilee. Twent-five of the rockets hits Kiryat Shmona and the surrounding territory, 16 hit Maalot, 14 landed in the Rosh Pina and Hatzor Haglilit area, 8 hit Safed and 8 more hit Carmiel.

The Nahariya hospital received 86 patients on Thursday as a result of the attack, two sustaining injuries from shrapnel and the rest suffering from shock.

Dr. Hussein Amar, head of the emergency room in the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, told ynet: "The hospital received 15 people sustaining light injuries or suffering from shock during the course of the day. The emergency room in Kiryat Shmona took care of 27 casualties today, among them 3 injured from shrapnel."

More than 10 fire crews in the Upper Galilee, assisted by two firefighting planes, dealt with dozens of fires that broke out in the area and in the Galilee panhandle as a result of rocket barrages. One of the firemen was lightly injured and was subsequently hospitalized. Some 10 residences in the Galilee were directly hit by rockets, two vehicles caught fire and three factories and two high schools in Kiryat Shmona suffered damages.