Rocket landing in oil refinery
Monette Galpaz
Katyusha hit Haifa refinery in summer war
Only cleared for publication now: A rocket fired by Hizbullah landed in an oil refinery facility in Haifa; deadly explosion was avoided as missile landed in open space
A Katyusha rocket fired by Hizbullah during the Second Lebanon war landed in one of Haifa's oil refineries, it was cleared for publication on Thursday.
Almost eight months after the war, it was revealed that a major disaster was avoided as a rocket falling on one of Israel's most sensitive facilities landed in an open area, just missing the chemical-filled containers.
"It was horrifying," recalled one of the refinery's workers. "We saw the rocket flying into the refinery and approaching a container holding tons of chemical substances."
Such an explosion could have caused a leak of dangerous chemicals and led to hundreds of deaths in the Haifa area.
Data released by the police at the end of the 34-day war showed that 3,970 rockets landed in Israel's northern communities, 907 of which landed in urban areas.
The rockets wounded 2,015 people, and left 52 dead. Statistics show that most of the Katyusha hits occurred between 3 pm and 4 pm.
The war severly affected the oil refineries' financial situation, since their activity was halted during the war and routine maintenance work had to be put on hold and performed later at a higher cost.
