Qassam rocket in Sderot
Photo: Ben Kiselnik
9 Qassams hit Negev region Thursday evening
No injuries reported, although one rocket causes fire. Some Qassams explode without warning due to malfunction in ‘Color Red’ alert system; ‘tragedy prevented because rockets happened to land in open areas,’ security officer says
Nine Qassam rockets fired by Palestinians in Gaza Thursday evening landed in Israel’s western Negev region.
Two rockets landed near kibbutzim in the Eshkol region, while the rest landed near Sderot and the Sha’ar Hanegev region. A fire broke out near one of the kibbutzim.
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Several rockets exploded in Israeli territory without prior warning due to a malfunction in the “Color Red” alert system, as was the case during last Tuesday’s attack that claimed the life of Sderot resident Shirel Feldman.
Security officers in the area stated that the system had malfunctioned several times in recent days, which they found troubling.
"As it is, it seems that the lag time between a warning and a strike has gotten shorter, but at least people had a few second to run for cover," one officer told Ynet. A tragedy was prevented because the rockets happened to land in open areas, he said.
Security personnel in Gaza vicinity towns have noticed a trend: Terror organizations do their best to time their rocket barrages right before the nightly news. Thursday night followed the same pattern, after a few hours of relative quiet in the area.
A total of 16 rockets were fired at Israel since the early morning hours.
In another incident, a mortar fired from the northern Strip landed near the Erez crossing. No injuries were reported, although the structure was slightly damaged.
Meanwhile, Health Ministry officials discussed opening two new centers for the treatment of people who suffered from shock as a result of a Qassam attack.
Meital Yasur Beit-Or contributed to the report
