Sderot residents continue to leave for Eilat
Fresh rocket barrages lead hundreds more of Sderot's residents to flee to resort city at expense of business mogul Arcadi Gaydamak. MK Netanyahu visits town: 'When I was prime minister there were no Qassams'
A sizeable commotion erupted in downtown Sderot Sunday afternoon after hundreds of residents tried to secure seats on buses headed towards Eilat.
Business mogul Arcadi Gaydamak, who has stepped forward to pick up the tab for the transport and accommodation of the town's rocket refugees, ordered to send more buses to the town and allocated funds for hundreds of additional hotel rooms. Sderot officials estimate that the mass exodus of residents will continue over the coming days.
And as Sderot turns into a ghost town, eight more rockets landed in Israel on Sunday morning, five of them inside Sderot. One resident was moderately to severely wounded and two more were lightly wounded from shrapnel.
It is approximated that about 2,000 of Sderot's residents are currently taking refuge in Eilat. To help pass the time Gaydamak has arranged performances by popular singers Sarit Hadad and Lior Narkis.
Netanyahu: No rockets while I was PM
Likud MKs paid a visit to the town today and decided to stay despite the fresh rocket barrage. The delegation, headed by Likud chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu, was met with a small crowd who said that the visit was pointless.
City officials said that the people in question were Labor supporters who attempted to hamper the visit.
Netanyahu with the widowed Michael Slotzker (Photo: Tsafrir Abayov)
One of the residents confronted Netanyahu and asked him what course of action he would take against the rockets, and why his voice was not heard while they rained on the western Negev. Netanyahu replied that during his premiership there were no Qassam rocket attacks, he also said that in his opinion a military solution will be the most effective in countering the rocket attacks.
MK Yuval Steinitz also said that a massive military operation is in order. After a meeting at city hall the delegation was taken to see a site where one of the rockets had landed.
The delegation paid an emotional visit to the home of Michael Slotzker, whose wife Faina was killed from a Qassam rocket last week.
Slotzker told Netanyahu that he and his wife emigrated from Russia only three years ago.
"I have fought in many wars and I never believed that my wife would be killed here of all places," said Slotzker who was overcome with tears.
Meir Ohayon contributed to this report.
