Last update - 00:00 22/11/2006
Qassam kills Sderot man as ten rockets slam South
By Mijal Grinberg and Nir Hasson
A man was killed yesterday when a Qassam rocket landed in the poultry-processing plant in Sderot where he worked.
A total of approximately 10 rockets were fired at Israel yesterday. The locations where four fell have been identified, three of which were in Sderot.
The rocket that killed 43-year-old Yaakov Yaakobovich fell at 8:20 A.M. yesterday in the marketing department of the Off Kor factory. "We were sitting here on a break and drinking tea," Meir Kakun, 45, who heads the marketing department, said. "All of a sudden we heard 'color red' [the coded rocket-attack warning]. We ran inside the refrigeration room that's made of concrete. Yaakov was the last, he didn't make it into the room."
The rocket came through the roof and down to the lower story, causing a fire and slightly injuring another man. A few other employees were treated for shock. Yaakobovich was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva.
Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal came to the scene with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, in a convoy of four vehicles. An angry group of employees surrounded the cars and had to be pushed back by the police.
The factory's 170 workers were sent home. Plant head Yossi Hugi said the factory, which is not reinforced and has been hit by Qassams before, sustained hundreds of thousands of shekels in damage.
"If we hadn't been on break, we wouldn't have heard the siren and we would all have been hurt," Kakun said yesterday, adding that the siren cannot be heard in the factory. According to a spokesman for the Home Front Command, the law requires the installation of sirens only in populated areas and not in factories. However, following an appeal by the industry and manufacturer's association a few days ago, the GOC Home Front Command ordered sirens installed in factories in Sderot's industrial zone.
Yaakobovich's family yesterday maintained a vigil at the hospital, where he was in intensive care with head injuries. He was unconscious and on a respirator after being admitted, according to Dr. Moti Klein of Soroka Medical Center.
Yaakobovich, was married and the father of four children, came to Israel from the Caucasus and has lived in Sderot for about 14 years, according to family friends.
They also said that by 6 P.M., no representative of the Sderot municipality or social worker had been to see them. "Why do Eli Moyal and [Defense Minister Amir] Peretz visit other injured people, but not my father," Yaakobovich's younger son asked, crying.
Since last Wednesday, four people have suffered injuries ranging from moderate to critical from Qassam attacks, and two people were killed. Another 12 have been treated for shrapnel injuries and shock.