Qassam landing site
Photo: Noam Yaakov
Qassam lands in vacant Sderot daycare center
Palestinians fire two rockets toward western Negev; one Qassam hits vacant kindergarten, woman living nearby suffers from shock. ‘Eventually these rockets will kill someone. This is why the Palestinians fire them – to kill,’ Sderot's mayor says
Palestinians in north Gaza fired two Qassams toward Israel on Tuesday. One rocket struck a vacant Na'amat daycare center in the western Negev city of Sderot, causing slight damage to the building. A woman living nearby suffered from shock as a result of the attack.
The second Qassam landed near a gas station outside the city; no injuries or damage were reported.
“We heard the ‘Color Red’ alert system and then a very loud blast,” said a resident who lives near the daycare center. “The rocket landed inside the daycare center grounds and hit a tree, which probably prevented it from striking passersby or causing greater damage.
“The center is currently undergoing fortification works, and this is apparently why there were no kids inside. I don’t want to imagine what would have happened had the center been open,” the resident told Ynet.
'Rockets are continuing to fall'
The rocket landed in close proximity to Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal’s office, which is not shielded against such attacks.
“The rockets are continuing to fall on Sderot every day,” the mayor said. “Today one fell on a vacant daycare center, but eventually these rockets will kill someone. This is why the Palestinians fire them – to kill.”
A few weeks ago a Qassam rocket struck a kindergarten in Sderot, which was also vacant due to the summer vacation. Parents in the city are continuing to voice their protest over the fact that many educational institutions have not been fortified with only two weeks remaining before the opening of the new school year.
Only four out of nine schools in Sderot have been completely fortified, despite an order by the High Court of Justice to complete the fortification of all schools in the town by the beginning of the school year.
As a result, many of Sderot’s children have not enrolled in the town’s schools due to the Qassam threat.
