Israel Matzav

Rockets hit Haifa, Tsfat (Safed)

Once again this afternoon, Katyusha and Fajr rockets hit the beleaguered northern towns of Haifa and Tsfat (Safed).

In Haifa, one of the rockets landed near the train station where eight people were killed on Sunday. This time, no injuries or damage were reported.

Another rocket that hit Haifa caused a brushfire in the southern part of the city, which was quickly extinguished.

At the same time, five rockets were fired at Tsfat (Safed). One of the rockets hit a storage tank for freon gas, and firefighters were warned to wear protective equipment to extinguish the fire.

Several rockets landed this morning near Shlomi, and one of them ignited a fire in a nearby field, which was extinguished.

Rockets also landed north of Nahariya this morning.

On Monday night, Hezbollah fired more than 50 rockets, including a barrage which landed after 10 P.M. in the northern towns of Tsfat (Safed), Rosh Pina, Tzivon, Sakhnin, Hatzur Haglilit and Peki'in.

Nine people were wounded in that barrage, including eight hurt mostly by shrapnel when a rocket hit the Rebecca Sieff hospital in Tsfat (Safed) around 11 P.M.

The rocket hit the hospital's northern external wall. Five patients, two doctors and two other hospital employees were hurt in the attack, and were treated in the hospital's emergency room.

The hospital's deputy director, Dr. Klein Shapira, said after the attack that the rocket damaged the building's air conditioning system.

The doctor commented that, "It is hard to know if the fire was intentionally directed at us. We know from the movies that hospitals are not attacked (in war), but when it comes to Katyushas the rules must be different." Actually, I think the rules are different when Arabs are doing the fighting and not when there are Katyusha's involved.

In the south, two Kassam rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip early this morning. One landed in a kibbutz in the Negev, lightly wounding a Thai worker.

Another rocket landed in an open area south of Ashkelon. No one was wounded in that attack and no damage was reported.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:20 PM