Girl, 8, seriously hurt after collapsing during rocket attack from Gaza
30 people injured in barrages; man lightly wounded when missile explodes on major highway; family hiding in bomb shelter escapes injury as projectile destroys their home
An 8-year-old girl was among 30 people who required medical treatment Tuesday as Palestinian terror groups fired over 160 rockets at the country in response to the targeted killing of a senior commander in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
The girl lost consciousness during a rocket attack on the central city of Holon and was hospitalized in serious condition.
The girl apparently suffered a bout of heart arrhythmia brought on by anxiety after her family rushed to the stairwell in their building to take shelter.
She was taken to Wolfson Medical Center in the city, where a doctor told Channel 12 that upon arrival she was given medication and electrical cardioversion treatment.
Her condition later improved, and doctors said her prognosis was good.
The girl had suffered from “apparent arrhythmia caused by an anxiety attack,” Dr. Sion Huri, head of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Wolfson told Channel 12 news, adding that her condition had become more stable after she started receiving treatment.
“It’s pretty rare,” he said. “We haven’t seen many such cases in our lifetimes, but I’m optimistic she’ll recover.”
Separately, 15 people suffered injuries as they scrambled to reach bomb shelters and 13 people were treated for anxiety.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday fired dozens of rockets at cities and towns throughout the southern and central coastal regions in retaliation for the killing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad senior terror commander Baha Abu al-Ata in an IDF targeted strike.
At approximately 8 a.m., a rocket was fired toward south Tel Aviv, triggering sirens in the city and nearby suburbs, sending hundreds of thousands of people to bomb shelters.
The rocket fire continued throughout the day, with at least 60 rockets intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. Most of the rockets from Gaza fell on open ground away from populated areas.
One struck the Route 4 highway near the Gan Yavne Junction, lightly injuring the 35-year-old man and causing significant damage to the road and several cars. Police sappers were called to the scene to remove the projectile.
In Netivot, a rocket scored a direct hit on a home. The family had secured themselves in the house’s bomb shelter after rocket sirens sounded and were unharmed, though the building suffered extensive damage.
Batsheva Hadad, who has lived in the home for 11 years, told Channel 12 that her family made it to the shelter with seconds to spare.
“I told my husband to close the door tight, and he locked it tight,” Hadad said. “And then we heard a bang inside the house, I understood that something had happened.”
While Hadad said that she “trusts in God,” her daughter Levana criticized the decision to kill Abu al-Ata, saying that his death was not worth the destruction of her home.
“That is my home, it wasn’t worth it to kill the senior figure,” she told Channel 12.
One rocket hit a mattress warehouse in the Hollandia factory in Sderot, a town close the border with the Gaza Strip, igniting a major blaze. Several firetrucks were called to tackle the blaze, though their efforts were hampered by frequent rocket alerts that forced them to stop their activities and seek shelter themselves.
CEO Avi Barssessat told the Ynet news site that the 4,000-square-meter building, which was in danger of collapse, was full of products waiting to be delivered to clients.
“I am seriously hurt by this situation,” Barssessat said. “It’s true that I’m not bleeding from anywhere, but the damage is huge. I am completely destroyed seeing my life’s work going up in flames.”
Two more rockets landed in the yards of buildings in the town. There were no injuries but some damage to the buildings.
Another rocket landed in the coastal city of Asheklon without causing injury.
Schools were also closed in the Dan region, including Tel Aviv, and in the Yarkon region. Businesses were temporarily ordered shut there as well, but were allowed to reopen on Tuesday morning, providing there was a bomb shelter nearby, the military said. In the Dan and Yarkon regions, the IDF forbade all public gatherings of more than 300 people.
It was the first time that the IDF ordered a closure of schools and businesses in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area since the 2014 Gaza war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge.
