Moyal during press conference
Photo: Amir Cohen
Inspecting Qassam crash site
Photo: AP
Sderot boy trying to enter crowded bus
Photo: Tsafrir Abayov
Residents leaving for a day off
Photo: Tsafrir Abayov
Sderot residents barge into mayor's office
Dozens of angry residents of Qassam-stricken town attack mayor for his conduct on evacuation. Mayor Eli Moyal says shelters in dire condition
Dozens of distressed Sderot residents barged into Mayor Eli Moyal's office on Thursday, expressing their outrage at the municipality's conduct on resident evacuation.
"We want to leave, but no one is telling us when, where, or how to get out, and all of a sudden the busses are filled," the residents told Moyal, who was on his way out to a press conference with Rabbi Yehiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, who recently brought a NIS 6.5 million ($1.6 million) donation to the city for renovating shelters.
Residents confronting mayor (photo: Amir Cohen)
"We think," said the residents, "that many people who are not even Sderot residents left to those hotels and resorts. We want answers, and don't tell us anymore tales."
Residents' shouts inside and outside of the mayor's office went on for several minutes, and police officers were called to the try and calm the situation, with little success.
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"We are all in turmoil. I have agreed to sit with their representatives and hear their claims, and then I will be able to respond to them," said Moyal.
The mayor also described the dire condition the city's bomb shelters were in, saying that many of them lack electricity, water, air-conditioning and flooring.
Pointing the finger (photo: Amir Cohen)
According to Moyal, detailed plans for the shelters' renovation were presented to the relevant bodies over a year ago, but have remained unanswered.
Despite the difficult situation, Moyal said that he would not criticize the government or its conduct at this time.
"In the past, there was no need to use the shelters and we also though there was no immediate need, but recent incidents have proven otherwise. People prefer to go to shelters following the recent barrages. Luckily, within one day, people from the Fellowship have been recruited to help, and I have instructed the city's bodies to issue tenders for the work as early as tomorrow."
Rabbi Eckstein said in the press conference that the IFCJ has already donated some $10 million for the renovation of shelters in the north.
"When we talked with the mayor and asked him what he needed, he told us that he needed to renovate shelters and that there were some 70 – 80 shelters in need of immediate renovation. Therefore we decided to lend a hand and obtained a donation of NIS 6.5 million ($1.6 million)," Eckstein said.
