By Jack Khoury, Huang Heng, Xinhua,
Nahariya, Israel : At least two Katyusha rockets fired from southern Lebanon exploded in northern Israel Thursday morning, reminding many local residents of the beginning of the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
The rockets struck the northern Israel’s Nahariya area at around 8 a.m., one of them scoring a direct hit on the roof of a nursing home with 26 residents, leaving two people lightly wounded and a number of others suffering from shock.
Though a Lebanese cabinet minister from the guerrilla group Hezbollah denied any involvement in the firing of the rockets, it reminds Israelis in Nahariya of the 2006 war, during which Hezbollah fired almost 4,000 rockets at Israel.
Henry Karmeli, the director of the nursing home, told Xinhua that the lives of many residents there were saved by luck, since they were all on the first floor of the home, eating breakfast.
“A miracle happened here today. Had it fallen earlier or at nighttime when the residents were in their rooms, we would have had many casualties,” he said, adding that all the residents were either moved to other nursing homes in the area or were taken home by family members after the incident.
Itzik Shmuelovich, who came to take his mother Anna, said, “I was at home when I heard the explosion. They told me that it hit the nursing home and I ran here looking for my Mom. Thank God that I found her safe and sound. I don’t know if I should take her home, since I don’t have a secure room either. I think it is best that I take her to another nursing home.”
Following the attack, a decision was made in all the towns and villages along the Israel and Lebanon border to go on high alert and to open the public bomb shelters, as part of preparations for a possible outburst of fighting along Israel’s northern border.
However, despite the rocket attack and the decision to cancel school in some of the townships along the border, the local councils announced that school would be resumed on Friday and the state of high alert canceled.
The rocket attack Thursday morning also reminded many of the residents of the nightmare two years ago. As many as 20 people were taken to hospitals in a state of shock and anxiety.
Rachel Yehiel, a mother of two 7-year-old twins, who lives in an apartment not far from where the Katyusha fell, came to the Nahariya hospital with her daughters suffering from shock.
She said, “We were leaving home to go to school when we heard aloud explosion. We immediately ran to the secure room and turned on the TV to see what was going on. It was clear to us that it had been a Katyusha rocket attack and it brought back the memories of the Second Lebanon War. I hope that this time the attack doesn’t develop into a second front, and maybe it is better for Nasrallah to not tease Israel.”
Gaby Ne’eman, head of regional council of Shlomi, said that the attack can be considered an exercise of sorts, for the communication and alarm systems, for the coordination between the councils, and for the readiness of the bomb shelters and security rooms.
One of the issues that needs to be dealt with by the local councils is the fact that the sirens did not sound prior to the rocket attack, and the people of the area had no time to take cover.
Moreover, about two hours following the attack, the rocket alert sounded again and two more Katyushas were reported near Nahariya, but after an investigation, it became clear that the alert had been a false alarm.
Some of the councils spent the day working with the Home Front Command in order to figure out exactly why the alarm systems had not worked.
No matter how it was, the latest attack on Israel’s north certainly hit a raw nerve though it has claimed no lives. Local residents worry that it is likely that tensions will go up in the next few days.