southern Israel

June 29, 2019, 11:04 pm

In UN appeal, southern Israelis to accuse Hamas of violating their human rights

Local residents look to issue a plea to international body after repeated, unofficial ceasefire deals fail to achieve peace while arson attacks continue

By TOI staff

An Israeli child on May 6, 2019, looks at shattered glass at the entrance to a building damaged by a rocket strike from the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. (Jack Guez/AFP)

May 12, 2019, 11:52 am

Southern Israel residents increasingly traumatized by Gaza rockets, group says

Report cites 40% surge in calls to trauma helpline, with over 1,000 calls just during last week’s 2-day flareup

By Michael Bachner

May 6, 2019, 11:34 pm

In rocket-scarred south, quiet returns but anger simmers

Residents carry on with their daily routines, but lament lack of a long-term agreement to end the violence emanating from Gaza Strip

By AFP and TOI staff

A field of anemone flowers blossoming in Shokeda Forest, in the south of Israel on January 30, 2019. (Dudi Modan/Flash90)

February 2, 2019, 10:33 pm

60,000 flock to south where fields torched by incendiary balloons now bloom

Adom Darom Festival goers celebrate the annual blooming of red anemones as 150,000 Israelis trek through national parks countrywide over the sunny, springlike weekend

By TOI staff

A wounded Israeli woman is evacuated from her apartment, which was set ablaze by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on November 12, 2018. (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)

November 14, 2018, 10:35 pm

As rockets multiplied, racing first responders struggled to keep up

The 400 rockets launched from Gaza posed a challenge not only to the Iron Dome defense system but also to emergency workers, who respond to multiple incidents for every rocket

By Melanie Lidman

A man stands inside a house that was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, on November 13, 2018 (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

November 13, 2018, 3:29 pm

Residents of rocket-battered Ashkelon try to regain a sense of normalcy

Coastal city slowly comes back to life after overnight strike kills 1 and injures 13, but school is still off, and residents are staying near protected areas

By Melanie Lidman and Video by Luke Tress

Israelis look at a house in Beersheba that was hit by a rocket fired from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on October 17, 2018. (Jack Guez/AFP)

October 18, 2018, 12:37 am

Beersheba says no decision yet on reopening schools as tense night sets in

Many residents of south prepare to sleep in bomb shelters overnight in wake of Gaza flareup that saw rocket land direct hit on home

By TOI staff

Demonstrators hold up signs at a Tel Aviv rally demanding security for residents of Israel's south on August 18, 2018. (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

August 19, 2018, 12:24 am

‘Not cannon fodder’: South Israel residents march to demand quiet on Gaza border

As possible cease-fire takes shape, hundreds at Rabin Square protest say they won’t tolerate continuation of airborne arson attacks torching their fields

By TOI staff

A child looks at the scene where a courtyard of a house was hit by a Gaza rocket in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, on July 14, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

July 15, 2018, 8:32 am

IDF gives all-clear to southern residents as Gaza ceasefire appears to hold

Military calls off limitation on large gatherings near Gaza border, requirement to be near bomb shelter, following flareup in which 200 rockets and mortar shells fired at south

By Judah Ari Gross

An Israeli man walks past a kindergarten yard, after mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip exploded near it, in the southern Israeli Kibbutz of Ein Hashlosha on May 29, 2018. Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a barrage of mortar shells at southern Israel on Tuesday, the army said, causing no injuries but raising tensions in the border area. (AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ)

May 29, 2018, 3:05 pm

‘Our kindergarten is the safest place,’ teacher tells kids after mortar attack

Children adhere to daily routine after shell lands in yard; man wounded in worst flare-up in 4 years says shell fell ‘a few meters’ from him

By Michael Bachner

EU Ambassador to Israel Emanuele Giaufret (YouTube screenshot)

May 29, 2018, 10:38 am

EU, UN condemn ‘indiscriminate’ attack on Israel from Gaza

Envoys for international bodies highlight mortar shell that fell outside kindergarten; UN urges restraint by ‘all parties’

By Michael Bachner

A picture taken on November 28, 2017 from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing following an explosion close to the border on the Egyptian side of the divided city.
(AFP/SAID KHATIB)

May 1, 2018, 4:36 pm

Residents of south warned about planned ‘massive’ Egypt assault on IS affiliate

Eshkol Regional Council says loud bombardments will be heard, as Cairo continues effort to regain control in Sinai

By Judah Ari Gross and AFP

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, left, visits an attack tunnel dug by a Palestinian terrorist group from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel during a visit to the area on December 20, 2017. (Israel Defense Forces)

December 20, 2017, 8:14 pm

IDF chief visits Gaza attack tunnels, amid lingering tensions

After defense minister says period of near-daily rocket fire is over, Eisenkot heads to southern Israel to congratulate his generals

By Judah Ari Gross

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman meets with military officials and the heads of local governments about the situation in Gaza in the IDF's Gaza Division headquarters on December 19, 2017. (Judah Ari Gross/Times of Israel)

December 19, 2017, 11:52 am

Defense minister says spate of Gazan rocket fire is over

Avigdor Liberman says near-daily missile launches were the ‘cost’ of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem, but Hamas has cracked down on Salafis now

By Judah Ari Gross

Untended camels rounded up in the south of Israel on July 9, 2017. (Agriculture Ministry)

July 10, 2017, 12:09 am

Israel rounds up traffic-stopping stray camels

30 animals, which had been left to roam near roads, were treated by a vet, vaccinated, and returned to their owners, with a fine

By TOI staff