Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Sez Fire!

During the recent ceasefire it has been anything but a cease of fire from the launching of rockets and mortars into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Recently, the claims of responsibility for these missiles and mortars come from some unheard of group or from some of the smaller groups acting within the Gaza Strip. This morning the Jerusalem Post reports a grad missile hit Ashkelon.
Palestinians fired a Grad rocket at Ashkelon Tuesday morning, the first instance of such a rocket being fired into Israel since the end of Operation Cast Lead approximately two weeks ago. There were no casualties reported in the attack, but some damage to the surrounding area was reported.

It is from Ynet News where we learn the ‘some damage’ is really a miracle no one’s life was lost in this attack.
Rafi Zvi, a bus driver, was making his way from the city's central bus station. "The siren sounded as I left the station and began driving. I screamed to the passengers to get out immediately. There are sometimes those who are very confident and just stay there, but this time I had a bad feeling and I virtually pushed the passengers out.

"We ran towards the Israel Electric building, and as we escaped we saw the missile above our heads and heard a loud explosion. The back part of the bus, where quite a few passengers had been sitting, was shattered. We were really lucky, it was simply a miracle."

A grad missile cannot be made in a Palestinian kitchen or basement. It can only be purchased from China or from one of countries importing Chinese grad missiles. There is only one group acting in the Gaza Strip which has possession of these Chinese made missiles – Hamas.

There are those who would have you believe all missiles launched into the Israeli state are relatively harmless and point to the low casualty figures as evidence but do not be suckered into believing this for a minute. These rockets are lethal and the only reason more Israelis have not died as a result has more to do with providence – some would say divine, others would say luck, and still others would say it is the result of an interesting coincidence but still providence all the same.

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