Israel Matzav

7-Month Old Infant Wounded by Kassam

You all recall those 'peaceful Palestinians' to whom Ariel Sharon gave the Gaza Strip to 'enhance our safety.' Late on Friday afternoon, a Kassam rocket that they shot hit the home of the Amar family on Kibbutz Carmiya in the Western Negev. Four members of the family were wounded, including a seven-month old baby who sustained a head wound.

IDF artillery kept up intensive shelling of Gaza Strip Kassam launch sites in response to a Friday afternoon Kassam attack on Kibbutz Carmiya in the western Negev. [In other words, we're shelling a bunch of fields, while they are hitting people. CiJ]

Four members of the Amar family were wounded in the attack, including their seven-month-old son Osher.

Osher, who sustained a head wound, was initially listed in serious condition, but was later downgraded to moderate to light after he underwent a CT scan in Soroka Hospital. Israel Radio reported that he had regained consciousness after doctors managed to absorb all of his cranial bleeding.

His mother Bat-El, suffering mainly from shock and light wounds, was also sent to Soroka. Her husband Yuval and Yitzik, a close family relative, were both lightly wounded and taken to the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

The family, evacuees from the former settlement of Nisanit in northern Gaza, were sitting inside their caravilla when the rocket fell outside their home. The combination of the home's thin cardboard walls, and the force of the rocket that was packed with explosives and shrapnel caused extensive damage to the home. [See what great 'homes' the government built the 'evacuees.' CiJ]

... The restricted or no go zone enforced by the army in the northern Gaza area where the former settlements Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nisanit were located has succeeded in causing many of the rockets fired by Palestinians to fall short of the Gaza security fence and in areas under Palestinian control. According to the officer, approximately 300 Kassam rockets have been fired at Israel since the disengagement from Gaza. Out of that the officer said, 40 percent of the rockets fell in Palestinian controlled areas.

...

Yossi Cohen, a Magen David Adom paramedic, knew before he reached the kibbutz that his daughter's house had been hit. "It is a difficult situation - you are driving to the site and you know that those closest to your heart were in the house that was hit, and you don't know the extent of their injuries," he told reporters.

After the wounded had been treated and evacuated to hospital, the regional council sent social workers and other officials to assist residents and calm their fears. After the rocket attack many of the Gaza evacuees left the kibbutz, said Slutzki. "You cannot blame them, their children are still traumatized from the past," she said.

Since the disengagement from Gaza, the kibbutz has become the home to 53 families who lived in the former settlements she said. Residents are up in arms. 'In recent weeks the rocket attacks have come closer and closer, people are worried and scared, the children are suffering, people are scared to leave their homes," she said.

Slutzki, who has been directly involved in recent months with the Defense Ministry, Sela, and the Homefront Command in an effort to secure security rooms for the entire kibbutz, said she is fed up. All in all there are 500 people living on the kibbutz - including the Gaza evacuees, she said, and a total of only seven security rooms. "We are helpless, I have received no response to my requests to beef up and enhance security, the children are scared, we haven't received a response from anyone," she said. [Sounds like the government was really well prepared for the 'evacuation,' doesn't it? CiJ]

"It is about time the government dealt with the situation, a solution must be found for our kibbutz -- evacuees or veteran kibbutz members, we are all one family and need to feel secure," she said.

A second Kassam fired at the same time landed in open territory, causing no damage, while a third Kassam rocket landed later Friday in an industrial area near Ashkelon, damaging a number of buildings. No one was reported wounded as a result of the impact. [Until the IDF left Gaza, the 'Palestinians' couldn't reach Ashkelon. CiJ]

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:02 AM