Longtime Sderot residents plan exodus from rocket-battered city after home struck
Sherry Vazana says she always hoped to avoid such an incident but is now planning to leave; local leaders pan government, urge harsher action against terrorists
Sherry Vazana has lived her whole life in Sderot, and up until Thursday had hoped to continue calling the city home for a long time.
But since her home took a direct hit from a rocket fired from Gaza overnight, Vazana says she, her husband and their 9-month-old daughter are getting ready to leave the city, which has been battered by rocket fire for nearly 20 years.
“At some point you expect it, you hope not,” Vazana told Channel 12 of her home being hit by a missile fired by Gazan terrorists. “It makes you think. Tomorrow, we are leaving Sderot. My daughter could have been hurt. We will probably leave the city soon.”
The Vazana’s home was hit by a rocket fired overnight in a volley of 44 total projectiles targeting southern Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces. The attack, which was accompanied by rocket fire from Lebanon as well, has put pressure on the government to act, with local politicians in areas bordering Gaza urging more forceful action.
The IDF said 44 projectiles, including rockets and anti-aircraft missiles, were launched from Gaza at southern Israel overnight.
In a briefing with reporters, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said nine of the rockets failed to cross the border and fell short in the Palestinian enclave, 12 landed in the sea, 14 landed in open areas in Israel, eight were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system and one struck the home in Sderot.
Though none of the family members were harmed, the rocket caused damage to the home’s living room and knocked the electricity out, Vazana told the Ynet news site.
Her husband Yanir told Channel 12 that he was in the living room when the home was struck, while his daughter and wife were in the bomb shelter.
“Before I was a father, I would say I am staying here with all my might, now I am reconsidering,” he said.
שרי וזאנה משדרות שביתה נפגע הלילה מטיל: "ישנו בממד. ניצלנו. אני אעזוב את שדרות כבר מחר. לא רוצה לגדל את הבת שלי במצב הזה וכבר בגיל 9 חודשים להרוס את נפשה". pic.twitter.com/cJKtIh4tkS
— matan tzuri מתן צורי (@MatanTzuri) April 7, 2023
Israel launched airstrikes in the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday-Friday, hitting a series of sites belonging to the Hamas terror group, in retaliation for the barrage of rockets from the Palestinian enclave as well as from Lebanon — attacks Israel blamed on Hamas.
The current round of violence began Tuesday following clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the flashpoint Temple Mount site in Jerusalem’s Old City. That led Thursday to rocket fire from Gaza and, in a significant escalation, an unusual barrage of nearly three dozen rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel. The fighting comes during a delicate time — when Jews are celebrating the Passover holiday and Muslims are marking the holy month of Ramadan.
Similar tensions spilled over into an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers in 2021.
Some local leaders in the south have criticized the government for what they described as insufficient action against the Gazan terrorists.
“We must put it on the table — there are no dead terrorists in Gaza,” said Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi. “This means that this policy of granting immunity to terrorists who are making our lives miserable is continuing. To change this equation, we must do other things. It’s time for the government and the prime minister to adopt a policy of eliminating them,” he demanded, noting the wide-scale anti-terror campaign going on for many months in the West Bank.
Several other mayors of local and regional councils in the south were quoted by Hebrew media as saying that only targeted assassinations of Gazan terror operatives would “restore deterrence.”
Tamir Idan, head of the Sdot Negev Regional Council, said the “measured response” overnight “doesn’t restore deterrence and conveys a bad message to terrorists in Gaza and Lebanon.”
“I hope and want to believe that this response 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,” he said, in an apparent reference to the sensitive Ramadan period, and also urged targeted killings to restore deterrence.
Hagari said the Israeli Air Force struck over ten Hamas targets in Gaza using around 50 tons of munitions.
The Times of Israel Community.