Jezreel Valley under fire

Valley under fire: Afula, Nazareth Illit, Migdal Haemek and Jezreel Valley communities were bombed Sunday night shortly after 11:00 p.m. The attack was the first of its kind on the valley area. Frightened citizens from around the area reported that alert signals sounded in the town, followed by the echoes of rocket blasts. The rockets apparently landed in open areas.

Earlier, at 10:15 p.m. rockets were fired towards Shomra in the Western Galilee. The rockets landed in open areas, but sparked a fire near the town. Fifteen soldiers were lightly injured from smoke inhalation.

The army assessed that Hizbullah was focusing efforts on attacking during daylight hours to increase the likelihood of hitting civilian populations, hence the brief abatement in attacks Sunday evening.

Shortly afterwards rocket barrages landed near Ramat Yishai east of Haifa, officials say. No one was injured and no damage was reported.

Liat, a resident of Migdal Haemek, told Ynet, “We heard the alarm, and then came the blasts. We’re sitting in our secured room, we don’t know when we can come out. We’re close to Nahalel Junction, and so far we haven’t heard any ambulance sirens or police. I hope no one was hurt.”

'Very unpleasant'

An Afula resident, Liora, said she heard two explosions. “We live in lower Afula. It didn’t sound close, but we heard them. The alarm started on the second hit. We’re sitting in the protected room, the kids are sleeping, and I guess we’ll sleep the night here. I experience the Scuds (during the Gulf War) from Ramat Gan, but it’s still very unpleasant.”

Liron Cohen, 22 from Nazareth Illit hear the sirens too. “We went into the secured area – a hallway with no windows, and after 15 minutes we came out to see what happened. We heard explosion but didn’t see anything. Everyone here is panicked. I don’t know if I’m going to work tomorrow, because I work in Afula. They haven’t informed us of anything yet,” she said.

Magen David Adom reported that medical teams were in the field to ascertain there were no wounded. So far no casualties have been reported, MDA spokespeople said. Security forces are searching the area, and residents were requested to take shelter in protected areas.

Further developments:

• Some 1,000 protestors joined Sunday evening in a rally in Tel Aviv to protest the IDF strikes in Southern Lebanon. The protesters, who marched from Hen Boulevard toward King George Street, chanted slogans such as "Olmert agreed with Bush: War and occupation." "Stop the war monstrosity," and "Say no to the brutal bombardments on Gaza." They also accused Defense Minister Amir Peretz of murdering children in Gaza, and recited: "Peretz, don't worry, we'll be seeing you at The Hague."
  

• Israel lobbed missiles at targets across Lebanon early Monday, killing nine and wounding 33 in a surge of reprisals after Hizbullah rockets slammed into new targets deep inside Israel.
  

• No remission of rockets also in the southern front: Within one hour on Sunday five Qassam rockets landed in Sderot and Ashkelon. Overall eight Qassam rockets landed in Sderot and Ashkelon. One of the rockets landed near a strategic facility in Ashkelon, miraculously failing to hit the structure. Two other rockets landed in open fields in Karmiya and Mavki'im. Later Sderot was hit by three Qassams, one landing in a babies' clinic, which caused some people to suffer anxiety.