Lizrael Update

What Gaza rocket attacks look & sound like in southern Israel (kids included)

The mainstream news isn’t reporting it, or when they do, they’re not giving you much of a personal picture. Whether it’s their job or not, or they’re fatigued or not, or this is what the readership wants or not – well, it leaves it up to the rest of us to paint the terrible but personal picture.

The rocket attacks from Gaza, produced by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and company, are raining down on southern Israel on a daily basis now – actually, make that hourly. Despite an unofficial ceasefire that ended with 13 new rockets courtesy of Islamic Jihad. Yesterday saw over one hundred rockets, which have hit buildings and caused casualties in residential areas.

Yes, Israel has sent IDF planes over Gaza to carry out missions against the terrorists and militants releasing their rockets from residential areas. Yes, that creates a similar situation for Gazan children. Yes, we all need to understand what the entire picture entails for all of us on either side of the border.

Here’s what the rocket attacks sound like when you’re standing in Ashdod:

And what they look like being launched from a residential area in Gaza into Israel:

Click to watch the video.

Here’s what it looks like when it hits a target – a private house – in Netivot:

Another perspective of the direct hit in Netivot this morning:

Here’s what the rocket attacks in Israel look like from the nighttime point of view of children sleeping in bomb shelters:

Here’s what it looks like when southern Israeli children have been trained to duck and cover under school desks – and actually have to do it, at any given minute:

Here’s what it looks like when a children’s event is interrupted by a rocket siren in Sderot – warning, EMOTIONALLY GRAPHIC. (The video is from 2008, but the attacks have been going on for years now…)

Something I find myself considering: I know I could carry both my children in my arms, but what if I had a third?

Here’s what a mother of two has to say about becoming a maternal human shield for her children on the side of a road in Beer Sheva as the sirens sound above her.

What a rocket looks like up close:

The IDF blog has up-to-the-minute updates about rocket attacks across southern Israel (among other news). You can also follow several local Facebook pages in English/Hebrew to get that personal view I’m talking about:

Does anyone know what the innocent people, including children, in Gaza look like? What it sounds like to be under Gazan skies?

We should hope and pray for the innocents of both Gaza and southern Israel, who are being treated like human shields and war zone targets on a daily basis.

We should know a time soon when our governing bodies – be they elected parliaments or terror organizations – have no more reason to fight fire with fire and put our lives at stake.

Please share.

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8 responses to “What Gaza rocket attacks look & sound like in southern Israel (kids included)”

  1. Noa Avatar
    Noa

    Thank you for putting this together!!!

    Maybe you would allow me to suggest adding a few words about the reason and origin of the rockets fired out of Gaza!? I think it is very fair to consider children in Gaza in this whole picture but for a foreigner (and this does seem to address people who aren’t subject to Israeli Media on a regular basis) it might sound as if the two actions (IDF and Hamas firing) are similar.

    Of course for a child hiding under a table they are very similar but I have learned that for solving a problem one first has to find it’s cause and surely it is worth mentioning somewhere that the REASON the Hamas fires at us it VERY different then from why the IDF fires into Gaza??!!!
    (Not only the WHY but also the HOW is equally totally different and should be known to people around the world)
    Targeting civilians and targeting terrorist should not be confused! And from my experiences living abroad: way too many people DO!!
    And they use those confused understandings of the conflict against us! I have being verbally attack several times as to explain why Israel kills Palestinian children!
    Because the media doesn’t give our side of the story, the majority of people outside of Israel think that the fighting is our fault! If we’d only stop then they would too! That we are to blame for suicide bombers because of how ill we treat them… (I was told this several times- not by declared Neo Nazis or Radical Muslims but “normal” people)
    Those misinformed ignorant conclusions are converted into Anti semitism not only by Arabs.

    I am not asking for an entry to blame an entire people. But mentioning that Hamas is targeting civilians and what they are trying to achieve with their attacks would only mean painting the whole picture.

    It is sad and infuriating that after so many years we still have to spell it out for people who don’t take the time to properly inform themselves before they form an opinion and utter their ugly comments but especially in light of the lies some on the other side continue to publish about us, we do have to continue- people abroad are missing the most basic details!

    Thank you!

    Reply
    1. Liz Avatar
      Liz

      Thank you so much for weighing in Noa! Like so many of us, I’m totally fatigued from telling and talking and sharing this sad reality… But yes, there are so many facets to this. I think honest video and honest photography and other media are very strong ways to get the message across so we should all share as much as we can so people outside can understand better the full story.

      (I say honest, because as we know, it’s all too easy to doctor photos, as we’ve unfortunately seen done to many an IDF soldier, or fake one).

      Reply
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  3. Eliane Avatar
    Eliane

    Liz, I needed to say thank you to you for this post. As I was uploading pics on google of Ben, I came across this post. After watching a few clips, I started bawling my eyes out and can’t stop. As a new resident of Beer Sheva, I try not to think about ‘the situation’ b/c well, life has to go on. We made a choice (moving to Beer Sheva), and I have to deal with it. My way of dealing is pretty much ignoring, running into the mamad when a siren goes off and trying as much as I can not to think about ‘what ifs’. But, as I was watching some of these clips I realized maybe that’s not the best way to deal with our lives. We do have to think about the ‘what ifs’, we do have to be aware, and above all we have to be prepared. The bottom line for me is, how do I keep my one and a half year old son safe. If the public media could just understand that, maybe keeping my son safe wouldn’t be that difficult.

    Reply
    1. Liz Avatar
      Liz

      Wow, Eliane… thanks so much for sharing here. I imagine I’d probably be similar in your situation… as far as trying to just live but yeah, it’s part of life.

      Offer to come up here whenever still stands ;)

      Reply
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