Rocket sirens blared in southern Israel throughout Thursday night and Friday morning, with over 40 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel overnight.
A resident of Sderot in southern Israel whose home was hit by a rocket fired amid the barrages from the Gaza Strip early Friday morning told Israeli media that she’s considering leaving the town in order to protect her baby daughter.
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“In my view we should leave Sderot now. I don’t want to raise my child in this situation and ruin her soul at the age of nine months,” said Sari Vazana to Ynet.
Vazana added to Army Radio that “I don’t think we will stay here much longer, we are with our first child, she was in danger – and here, they’re already not playing around.”
Rocket alert sirens were heard in Ashkelon at 4 a.m. on Friday morning, and in the southern town of Yated at 5 a.m. Sderot, Ibim and Nir Am received rocket alerts a few minutes later, at approximately 5:10 a.m., 5:30 a.m and 6:45 a.m.
Smoke and flames rise during Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, April 6, 2023. (credit: Bashar Talib/Reuters)Also at 6:45, sirens sounded in the regions of Gavim, Sapir, Nachal Oz, Alumim and Mefalsim.
Sirens were also heard twice more in Sderot and Ibim in the earlier hours of Friday morning. They were heard once in Karmiel and Netiv HaAssara as well.
Just before 2 a.m. on Friday morning, sirens sounded in the towns of Nirim, Mefalsim and Nir Am near the Gaza Strip.
The mayor of Sderot, Alon Davidi, called on the government to act to restore deterrence on Friday, stating “Our Passover holiday was violated by the murderous terrorists who are trying in every way to harm us.”
“The Israeli government should do everything necessary to restore peace to all the settlements as well as the deterrence that unfortunately has disappeared. We will continue to accompany our dear residents and provide all the assistance required during Shabbat and the holiday. I ask the residents to continue to adhere to the guidelines and stay near protected areas. Observing the guidelines saves lives.”
The head of the Sdot Negev Regional Council, Tamir Aidan, expressed outrage at reports that Israel and Hamas were headed towards calming the situation, stating “The measured response of the security forces last night does not restore deterrence and sends a bad message to the terrorists in Gaza and Lebanon!”
“I hope and want to believe that this reaction is the result of the totality of the circumstances at this time and I expect the political echelon to choose the timing as soon as possible and initiate decisive and painful action against the leaders of the terrorist organizations, including targeted assassinations in order to restore deterrence and create a different reality according to which the one who determines the agenda of the State of Israel in general and the surrounding settlements in particular is the State of Israel and not the terrorist organizations,” said Aidan.
Thursday afternoon rocket barrage
Three Israelis were lightly injured and a number of buildings suffered damage, as a result of a barrage of 34 rockets that was fired from Lebanon into Israel on Thursday.
Of the 34 rockets, 25 were intercepted in the air, while five landed on Israeli territory. The location of four of the rockets is still under investigation.
This is a developing story.
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