VIDEO – Deadly fire on northern border: A massive rocket barrage was fired Sunday afternoon at Kibbutz Kfar Giladi in the Kiryat Shmona area. Ten Israelis were killed in the attack and another two people died of their wounds at the Ziv Medical Center in Safed and the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, to where they were evacuated in critical condition.
Fifteen people are still hospitalized at the Safed and Haifa hospitals, two of them in serious condition, three in moderate condition and six in light condition.
Following a request made by the Magen David Adom rescue services, choppers were dispatched to area to assist in the evacuation of the wounded.
Shimon Abutbul, who commanded the event on behalf of MDA, said: "This is a very difficult incident with many casualties, one of the most difficult we have witnessed. We treated many areas at the same time and there were many injured."
Galilee Police Sub-District Commander Danny Hadad said that “this is one of the most severe incidents since the onset of the fighting in Lebanon; there are many casualties at the scene.”
Some three hours after the tragic incident in Kfar Giladi, resumed rocket fire once again bombarded northern Israel: Dozens of rocket hits were identified in Haifa and the Kiryaot (the city's northern suburbs), as well as in Safed and Kiryat Shmona. A few residents were injured and hospitalized.
A residence in Kiryat Shmona absorbed a direct hit, but was, fortunately, empty. Tenants in a neighboring building are suffering from shock. Warning sirens were heard across northern Israel, as far south as Zichron Yaacov.
Eli Peretz, the Jordan District MDA manager, was one of the first to tend to the wounded: "We arrived in full force and saw a were confronted with a very difficult sight," he recounts. "A whole group of injured, some of them in severe condition. Those lightly injured scattered in every direction. Those who sustained severe injuries were airlifted to Haifa and the rest were received in local hospitals. Since the onset of the fighting - and in my many years serving in the MDA - I have not seen such a damaging incident."
Northern District Police Chief Dan Ronen said: “There was a high concentration of people at the site, and that’s what made the difference."
'Several more difficult days ahead of us'
“Yesterday (Saturday) many people in the Krayot area were saved because they remained inside the bomb shelters and today one rocket causes so much destruction,” he said.
As to the ceasefire agreement being formulated in the UN, Ronen said “I do not understand diplomatic maneuvering, but I do know that we have several more difficult days ahead of us until the proposal is implemented.
The deadly noontime barrage included no less than 30 rockets that were fired at the Kiryat Shmona area.
Celebratory processions were held in Nablus following the lethal attack. Cars with photographs of Hassan Nasrallah drove past with Hizbullah flags.
Wounded evacuated to Rambam Hospital (Photo: Doron Golan)
Earlier three rockets landed Sunday in open territories in the Ma'alot area. There were no injuries and no damage was caused. Security forces are searching the area to ensure that no further rockets fell.
Two rockets fell in open territories in the center of the Golan Heights. There were no injuries reported there either.
At around 9:30 a.m. a rocket barrage was fired at Safed. Until now two rocket landings have been identified in open territories and no damage has been reported. Rescue workers and security forces are searching the area.
Air raid sirens have been heard in Nahariya, Maalot, the Upper Galilee and Tiberias. Residents have been called to enter protected areas out of concern for rocket landings.
Tiberias police said no rockets landed in the city.
Despite the IDF's intensive operations in southern Lebanon, Hizbullah has continued to fire rockets at Israel at a rate of almost 200 rockets a day. Over the weekend seven civilians have been killed by Hizbullah rockets. The terror organization succeeded for the first time at firing long-range missiles at Hadera.
The IDF has dispatched special commando forces into the heart of Sidon and struck the Hizbullah members behind the Hadera attack.
Ilan Marciano, Hagai Einav, Efrat Weiss, Meital Yasur-Beit Or and Aviram Zino contributed to this report
First published: 10:33, 08.06.6