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Photo: EPA
The scene of the attack
Photo: EPA

The scene of the attack: Wounded family, destroyed home and dead pets

Residents of the Sharon region were awoken a little after 5am by air raid sirens - a sound they had not heard for almost five years - and while they scrambled for their secure rooms, for one household, the nightmare was just beginning

Hundreds of thousands of people in the Sharon area of central Israel were woken up at 5:18am to rush to their secure rooms as sirens wailed across the region.

 

 

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip - at least 80 kilometers – landed in Moshav Mishmeret, where local residents had not heard an air raid siren since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

 

The house destroyed by a Gaza rocket (Photo: Israel Fire and Rescue Services) (Photo: Kobi Tamam)
The house destroyed by a Gaza rocket (Photo: Israel Fire and Rescue Services)

 

For one family, the nightmare was just beginning, for the rocket struck their home directly, leaving seven people wounded and killing their dogs.

 

The scene of the attack   (Photo: AFP)
The scene of the attack (Photo: AFP)

 

The rocket smashed through the roof of the house and exploded on the floor, creating a crater in the ground and sending the shrapnel flying through all areas of the house. The rocket was stuck in the ground and efforts were being made by the security forces to extract it.

 

"It's a miracle that nobody got killed," said Assi Dvilanski, a Magen David Adom paramedic who was one of the first responders at the scene.

 

 

Images from the scene of the rocket strike showed massive destruction. Parts of the house collapsed, showering a bedroom and the baby's crib inside with tiles and shingles. Rescue forces who arrived the scene began destroying parts of the building.

 

Robert Wolf, center, the owner of the home hit by a Gaza rocket surveys the damage, apparently after his release from hospital (Photo: Dana Kopel) (Photo: Dana Kopel)
Robert Wolf, center, the owner of the home hit by a Gaza rocket surveys the damage, apparently after his release from hospital (Photo: Dana Kopel)

 

According to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who visited the scene of the attack, the family believes that their secure room saved their lives.

 

The scene of the rocket strike (Photo: Kobi Tamam)
The scene of the rocket strike (Photo: Kobi Tamam)

 

Smadar Castelnovo, a Mishmeret resident who lives opposite the destroyed house, said they were woken up shortly after 5am.

 

The scene of the attack   (Photo: Yair Sagi)
The scene of the attack (Photo: Yair Sagi)

 

"We heard the siren and we didn't think it was anything, but my daughter made us go into the reinforced room," said Castelnovo, still in her pajamas.

 

Evacuating the wounded after the rocket strike (Photo: Yair Sagi)
Evacuating the wounded after the rocket strike (Photo: Yair Sagi)

 

"My daughter was upset because we had left the dog out. We went out to get the dog and as soon as we went back in there was a very loud boom," Castelnovo said.

 

The scene of the attack   (Photo: AP)
The scene of the attack (Photo: AP)

 

Islamic Jihad had already announced that "Israel's crimes against the (security) prisoners would change the situation," referring to Israel's decision to jam the signals of cell phone smuggled into its jails - and a short time later the rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip.

  

Hours before the launch, two wardens were stabbed and wounded in a riot at Ketziot Prison in the Negev. Eleven prisoners were also hurt, including two who were in critical condition.

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.25.19, 10:15
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