Bomb shelter.
Every private house in Israel has got one, and for those living in apartment buildings there is one in the basement. Last night we had to enter our bomb shelter for the first time for security reasons. The alarm went and our daughters told us to wake up and to get moving...
I went to bed early last night as it was the last day of the school holiday and I knew that I would have to get up early the next morning. Earlier the same evening we had been following the news reports for what was going on. As we were watching we all of a sudden felt the house shaking. We had heard no alarm.... A few minutes later we were informed on TV that Kassams had been fired and that one of them landed in our neighboring town called Ashdod ( number 5 in size in Israel, south of Tel Aviv by the sea ) More than 60 Kassams were fired off yesterday and the one that landed in Ashdod resulted in 1 dead, 1 seriously wounded and another 3 wounded.
Let me tell you this : To live close to where this is happening and to know that we are within the limits for where these Kassams can reach is everything but pleasant. But, (and this is not easy for me to admit) it is somehow good to know that the Israeli army is trying to put an end to this terror.
I know that the information given on news reports all over the world have not bothered telling about the sufferings these Kassams have caused for the last 7 years. Many foreign reporters have dealt with them as if they were fire works. ( the Norwegian Press loves to deal with it this way...) We know that what we had a little "taste" of yesterday is something that our relatives in Nir Am have had to face on a daily basis for the last too many years. They have spent every night sleeping in bomb shelters, their children have not left for school in the mornings (as it is in a neighboring kibutz and because a Kassam actually fell into one of the class rooms )and the alarms have been heard several times during the day. They have been informed that if a Kassam hits a house directly there is no way to prevent them from going through the wall or roof, but it is possible to protect oneselves from the pieces of metal,bullets and nails that are being spread around once the Kassam explodes.The small children in the kibutz` kinder garden have been trained what to do when the alarm goes....get down on the floor, under a table and cover the head.
The kibutz had built a banquet hall for weddings and similar events as an income source .......The thing burned to the ground as it was hit by a Kassam. They invested money in a tourism project including rooms for over night stays, but people have been too afraid to come.... We know that most Kassams have actually landed on open fields and immidiately take it for "no damage made", but kibutz Nir Am has had acres of crops being burt off as the result of this. Who cares out there .......???
So, waking up this morning was a little different......I actually woke up to the sound of a loud speaker informing us at 6.30 in the morning that there would be no school today.---This information does not turn my life around, but there are lots of parents who have smaller kids that cannot be left at home alone as their parents go to work......
We have actually been asked please to stay inside our houses so that in case the alarm goes we will be close to the security room. ( we have 45 seconds to get to a safer place ).
I know that our situation cannot be compared to the situation inside Gaza right now. My heart was crying as we watched the news yesterday and heard of the 5 sisters that were killed as their house came down on them. Also this morning we were informed about the two children that were killed as they tried to get to a "safer haven" .
We saw an old Arab lady from Gaza receiving treatment at an Israeli hospital. She has not been informed about the situation "at home". She does not speak any Hebrew and the doctor treating her is an Israeli Arab. We also know about the sitation in hospitals and the exstreme lack of medication and medical equipment. A doctor from Gaza was interviewed yesterday on the news so I believe that when it comes to information through the Israeli mass media we get more balanced information than you do out there.
The most cruel thing that is happening now is that the Hamas leadership has gone under ground. They have made sure to prepare for themselves safe under ground bunkers. They do not want any cease fire unless Israel accepts their terms (opening up all the crossing points between Gaza and Israel.) In the mean time they are sending messages to encourage more Kassams to be fired. They are well aware of the fact that the more Kassams that are being sent into Israel the more Israeli air attacks there will be on Gaza and , as a result ,the number of casualties will grow. The Hamas does not have any problems with this as they believe that they actually arrange a "free ticket to Moslem heaven" for the ones that die and that is, according to them, not a bad alternative to their present situation. They also know that the international community will put pressure on Israel as the number of dead is growing. This is Hamas "math"....

Elin Elkouby