Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., September 07, 2007 Elul 24, 5767 | | Israel Time: 07:00 (EST+7)
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An IDF soldier and a civilian evacuating babies from a day care center in Sderot on Monday. (Almog Sugavker)
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Sderot parents boycott schools over Qassam attacks
By Barak Ravid, Amos Harel and Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondents, and The Associated Press

The Sderot Parents Association decided Monday evening to boycott the town's schools until further notice, after a Qassam rocket struck next to a day care center earlier in the day.

Twelve children suffered from shock after the strike on the southern town, and were evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for treatment.

The association, which is demanding that Sderot children be transferred to schools outside of rocket range, is also deliberating on taking additional protest measures.

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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that Israel has no intention of turning a blind eye to the barrage of Qassam rockets fired at Sderot earlier in the day, adding that the Israel Defense Forces has been instructed to strike at all those involved in the rocket fire.

"We view this attack very gravely," said the prime minister. "The IDF has been instructed to destroy every rocket launcher and to strike all those involved in the fire."

Olmert made the comments during a joint press conference with visiting Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer in Jerusalem.

"We will continue to invest in reinforcement of educational institutions along the border with Gaza, and we will do everything necessary in order to create a stronger sense of security for the residents, who are living in an intolerable reality," added Olmert.

Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu called for the international community to prevent Israel from carrying out harsh reprisals. "We are taking this new threat by Olmert seriously," he said. "We are warning of coming massacres against the people in Gaza."

IDF soldiers evacuated the children from the day care center soon after the strike.

The rocket was one of seven to be fired from the Gaza Strip into the western Negev on Monday. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, calling them "a gift for the opening of the school year."

Frantic parents across the city - already furious over the government's failure to protect them and their children from the near-daily rocket fire - reportedly pulled their children out of schools on the second day of the academic year.

Batya Katar, head of the Sderot Parents Association, said parents were pulling all 2,500 of the town's students out of school. "Buses are already on the way to pick up students who haven't been taken home yet," Katar said over the phone, the voices of panicked parents audible in the background. "The government promised to move students out of the city if there was an escalation in Palestinian rocket fire," she said. "This is an escalation, but there is no sign of any solution," she added.

Natalie, a caretaker at the center, told Army Radio that "in the adjacent classroom, which was closer to the site of impact, they didn't hear the alert until shattered glass fell on them. It's a matter of seconds between the 'Red Color' alert and the moment of impact."

"Some of the children were screaming and we are trying to calm them down. I also considered abandoning the city, I left for a month in the past. I'm still thinking of leaving. I have a child and I won't let him experience this," she continued.

Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal, accused the government of abandoning his city. "They simply don't care," he told Army Radio.

Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi said Israel will soon have to consider a wider ground operation in Gaza. "At some stage, decided by Israel, there will be no choice but to wage a campaign in the Gaza Strip," he told Army Radio.

Wary parents in Sderot threatened not to send their children to school on the first day of the year on Sunday. But they lifted the strike threat after being promised the schools were properly protected and that shelters had been upgraded.

To calm jittery residents ahead of the school year, the military dispatched more than 200 soldiers to accompany students back to school in Sderot and instruct them on emergency procedures.

An IDF operation aimed at eliminating the Islamic Jihad cell responsible for the recent Qassam fire on Israel failed Sunday, when an Israel Air Force plane fired a missile at a car carrying Islamic Jihad militants in Khan Yunis. The missile hit near the vehicle, lightly damaging it.
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  1.   do you have to live with that ? 10:27  |  Atilla Karagozoglu 03/09/07
  2.   I am waiting for governments to speak up 10:35  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 03/09/07
  3.   Rais Olmert hasn`t responded for "fear of harming Gaza children" 10:49  |  Absolute Sweden 03/09/07
  4.   Palestinian children were killed last week 10:49  |  indrajaya 03/09/07
  5.   Haaretz`s journalists worry only about Arab children who - 10:58  |  S 03/09/07
  6.   Olmert must go 11:05  |  eugene 03/09/07
  7.   Natallie Durson, where are you ? 11:17  |  Paul Henzen 03/09/07
  8.   "Shock" 11:29  |  John 03/09/07
  9.   lands near Sderot day care center 11:35  |  BOB KING 03/09/07
  10.   first evacuate Sederot 11:36  |  Barry 03/09/07
  11.   Solution to the qassam problem 11:38  |  isaac 03/09/07
  12.   stop bombing gaza 11:40  |  sorry 03/09/07
  13.   Qassam 11:40  |  Naim S. Mahlab 03/09/07
  14.   2 Palestinian children killed by IDF and 12 11:41  |  AM 03/09/07
  15.   Still talking peace under fire? 11:42  |  Dr D 03/09/07
  16.   Qassam rockets into Sderot... 12:02  |  Damon Besinsky 03/09/07
  17.   Palestinian right to resist the occupation 12:22  |  Joe Sittizen 03/09/07
  18.   Opening Day gift - no moral equivalence 12:26  |  Even Steven 03/09/07
  19.   Criminal Olmert and Criminal Gov`t Must Go 12:30  |  Ben Israel 03/09/07
  20.   Time to Hit Gaza Hard 12:39  |  D.Stroy 03/09/07
  21.   re#4 Indrajaya justifies the attack ! Bravo ! 12:40  |  Alberto Cohen 03/09/07
  22.   to #8, John 12:45  |  Jamie 03/09/07
  23.   Free gaza first 12:46  |  Guy 03/09/07
  24.   Quassams land near day care center in Sderot 12:47  |  Carolyn 03/09/07
  25.   How many Israeli kids did the Arabs try to kill today? 12:47  |  PETER SM 03/09/07
  26.   Anyone for targeted killings 12:55  |  Aussie Michael 03/09/07
  27.   Qassam rocket lands near Sderot 12:58  |  k.herzallah 03/09/07
  28.   The solution is peace! 13:01  |  Dutch Dirk 03/09/07
  29.   Before Israels supporters go into a panic 13:04  |  Natallie Durson 03/09/07
  30.   No peace, use brute force, exterminate hamas and friends 13:06  |  Johnny 03/09/07
  31.   disgusting 13:10  |  rose 03/09/07
  32.   WILL SOMEONE PLEASE KILL THESE ISLAMIST PARIAH DOGS - ALL OF THEM 13:12  |  S K Chan 03/09/07
  33.   Only Solution is for Israel to withdraw to 67 line 13:14  |  Joe 03/09/07
  34.   Lebanon used brute force to clean a "refugee camp" in 13:16  |  Dalia 03/09/07
  35.   The difference AM and others, not that you care but anyway 13:19  |  Johnny 03/09/07
  36.   Grandma Olmert is bad! 13:20  |  civilized kid 03/09/07
  37.   Thankfully, they made that anouncement 13:26  |  Denton 03/09/07
  38.   AM killing of children 13:26  |  Angela 03/09/07
  39.   Olmert 13:34  |  george 03/09/07
  40.   To Natallie 13:37  |  Angela 03/09/07
  41.   #14 AM You`re Wrong 13:39  |  Steven 03/09/07
  42.   Near miss 13:40  |  Michael 03/09/07
  43.   #33 Joe 13:42  |  Steven 03/09/07
  44.   #1Atilla. Those who walk like a man on both sides... 13:44  |  Maureen Ann 03/09/07
  45.   Are any Arabs reading this post willing to condemn the attempts 13:53  |  Ruti 03/09/07
  46.   Take 2 miles of Gaza. that would be a 3 mile buffer for sderot 13:58  |  tim 03/09/07
  47.   #Rose 31 14:05  |  Dutch Dirk 03/09/07
  48.   Israelis should get used to this. 14:12  |  Ali 03/09/07
  49.   47 Dutch Kirk - very selective, aren`t you? 14:17  |  ChanahS 03/09/07
  50.   Can go in daya after day but will not help - need to STAY! 14:17  |  BEn 03/09/07
  51.   SK CHAN How many Chinese killed by Moslems in Indonesia&Malaysia? 14:19  |  PETER SM 03/09/07
  52.   40 years Pals children 14:23  |  Dav 03/09/07
  53.   Quassams are Kadima pass time to scare Sderot residents away 14:24  |  Joseph E . 03/09/07
  54.   `34 Dalia No refugee camps 14:38  |  Dav 03/09/07
  55.   DUTCH DIRK will Islamic terror stop?will Dutch exMoslems be safe? 14:41  |  PETER SM 03/09/07
  56.   #29 14:44  |  Moshe 03/09/07
  57.   Do you think we are stupid, Ali #48? 14:45  |  Denton 03/09/07
  58.   God save us from this Maureen Ann 14:46  |  James McNamara 03/09/07
  59.   DUTCH DIRK instead of regurgitating proganda Read HRW reports 14:48  |  PETER.SM 03/09/07
  60.   to Hamas 14:50  |  Murray 03/09/07
  61.   Use of Qassams a war crime.... 14:56  |  Tess 03/09/07
  62.   First, Shut off Gaza`s electricity and water 15:01  |  Maya 03/09/07
  63.   Lebanon vs. Gaza 15:05  |  Dani Harel 03/09/07
  64.   #44 Maureen Ann 15:08  |  Becy Sharp 03/09/07
  65.   we must all be christians ! and turn the other cheek ? 15:11  |  victor hardman 03/09/07
  66.   Shame on the cowards 15:14  |  hala 03/09/07
  67.   Life and death 15:16  |  Teacher 03/09/07
  68.   Qassam rockets 15:24  |  Ros 03/09/07
  69.   bomb the Hamas infrastrucyure 15:29  |  r 03/09/07
  70.   #57 Almost.. 15:34  |  Ali 03/09/07
  71.   #59 PETER SM wrong again 15:35  |  Dav 03/09/07
  72.   Evacuate Palestinian cilvilians from the war zone 15:40  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 03/09/07
  73.   Denton #57, very right, world will get fed up with islamic terror 15:42  |  Johnny 03/09/07
  74.   Lets hear it from Indrajaya!!! 15:44  |  Maimon 03/09/07
  75.   #4 Indrajaya; Palestinian children were killed last week 15:47  |  Ian Robertson 03/09/07
  76.   sderot missiles 15:50  |  morice 03/09/07
  77.   Where is Gideon Levy??? 15:56  |  Ron 03/09/07
  78.   Israel wait until Olmert will give us the Golan and Wbank 15:57  |  Nasrallah 03/09/07
  79.   to dutch dirk 15:58  |  rose 03/09/07