Thursday: 2 dead and barrages continue

Barrage of rockets in the Galilee: A number or rockets landed Thursday afternoon near Maalot and several rockets landed near Nahariya, one of them hitting and setting fire to a home. Fire crews are working to contain the blaze and no casualties have been reported.

Since the morning, some 110 rockets have been launched at northern Israel. Most of the rockets landed near Kiryat Shmona and Nahariya. The remainder landed in areas of the western Galilee, the Galilee panhandle and Tiberias.

Tragedy strikes

Thursday morning Maryam Asadi,  26, and her five year old son, Fathi Ahmed Asadi, were killed when a rocket directly hit their house in Dir el-Asad, near Carmiel. The woman's three year old son, and his grandmother who was also in the home, were both severely injured. Additionally, three people were lightly wounded and dozens were treated for shock.

Muhammad Ali, the first paramedic who arrived at the scene of the attack, said: "The situation was very difficult. When I arrived there was nothing left to do and there was no room for resuscitation. It's an extremely grave incident. To see a child in such a condition is horror."

Rocket landing spot (Photo: Ahiya Raved)

Muhammad Badran, who lives next to the house which was hit, said that there were several others injured.

"This is a very difficult situation when civilians are killed. We are all here together, Arabs and Jews. The missile does not distinguish between ethnic groups. This was is not a war between Israel and Lebanon, but rather between the United States and Iran. They should fight this out themselves and not send Israel," he said.

Nasser Ahmed Fathalla Asadi, the brother of the family's father, told Ynet that he was sitting at the top floor of the house which was hit, but the rest of the family members were sitting behind a stone fence in the yard when the rocket fell.

"I heard the blast. I immediately went downstairs, I heard crying from the backyard and hurried there. I saw their little boy dead, he couldn’t have been helped anymore. I heard crying and terrible screams. It was just a terrible sight. It's very difficult to see your family's bodies lying there like that."

All across the Galilee

Since the hours of the morning, rockets also plagued other northern communities. In a rocket barrage fired at Tiberias a man was lightly wounded by shrapnel and three suffered from shock. They were evacuated to the Poria Hospital in the city.

A rocket hit a house in Carmiel, but there were no reports of injuries. Rockets also landed in Kiryat Shmona, Safed, the Golan Heights, Nahariya and Maal'ot, but there were no reports of injuries or damage. In the afternoon, a rocket fell near Haifa. There were no injuries, but property suffered damage.

Arab-Israeli casualties mount

The death of the toddler and his mother raised the death toll among Israeli Arab citizens killed on the home front during the war to 17 (more than 40 percent of all civilians killed).

On Wednesday, however, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah turned during his speech to Haifa's Arab residents and asked them to leave the city so that they don’t get hurt.  "To the Arabs of Haifa I say, we are sorry for your killed and wounded. I turn to you and ask that you leave this city," he said.

Raanan Ben-Zur and Sharon Roffe-Ofir contributed to the report