Qassam hits Sderot building
Qassam rocket hits apartment building, power-line in Sderot causing temporary blackouts throughout city. Several people suffer shock. Two additional rockets hit south on Thursday morning
Two Qassam rockets landed in an open area in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council in southern Israel on Thursday morning. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
The false calm in Sderot was broken Wednesday evening, when a Qassam hit a power-line and an apartment building in the city.
The rocket hit the roof of Dan and Osnat Ben Haim's house. The couple and their children were in the fortified room during the attack, but upon seeing the damage caused to the house by the Qassam they suffered shock and were treated by Magen David Adom paramedics.
The family was later taken to the municipal trauma center for further treatment.
House hit by Qassam (Photo: Yehuda Peretz, Reuters)
"It's very hard for me to talk about what happened, it was a great miracle," Dan Ben Haim said about two hours after the attack. "The damage caused to the house is very big, but we were lucky that the damage was only to property and that we weren't hurt. This could have ended in a disaster."
Earlier Wednesday saw five Qassam rockets fired at Sderot and the western Negev.
One of the rockets hit a flat, causing six people to suffer shock. The apartment hit was empty at the time, but adjoining flats sustained heavy damages.
Salah al-Din Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israel's security cabinet met Wednesday, in wake of rockets fired on Sderot, and decided the IDF's policy in Gaza would not change and the same "target bank" would remain as the guideline.
The cabinet also decided to press fortification efforts in Sderot and the Gaza vicinity communities.
Several ministers called for harsher action against the terror emerging from Gaza. Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai called for the evacuation of Palestinian population from entire areas and obliterating those areas.
Earlier Wednesday the Knesset's Finance Committee sanctioned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decree declaring Sderot and the Gaza vicinity communities confrontation line communities, making business owners in the area eligible for non-direct damage compensation.
