- Title: ISRAEL: Rockets hit southern Israel as students return to school
- Date: 11th January 2009
- Summary: SDEROT, ISRAEL (JANUARY 11, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF STUDENTS GOING TO SCHOOL (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) STUDENT SAYING: "OK, we are a bit scared but at least (the school) is safer". VARIOUS OF CHILDREN ARRIVING AT SCHOOL
- Embargoed: 26th January 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: War / Fighting
- Reuters ID: LVA5ZYN93SIVCIE4I3XHM4XX3JYM
- Story Text: Palestinian rockets hits southern Israel as students return to school on the 16th consecutive day of fighting in Gaza.
Two Palestinian rocket hit southern Israel on Sunday (January 11) as students returned to school on the 16th day of an Israeli army offensive into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Though cross-border Palestinian salvoes have diminished, the rockets struck Beersheba, 42 km (26 miles) inside Israel, the military said. There were no casualties or damage.
"OK, we are a bit scared but at least (the school) is safer,"
one student said as she made her way to lessons in the rocket-battered city of Sderot.
Three Israelis have been killed by rocket fire since the start of the offensive and schools have been shut. But most schools have been equipped with bomb shelters in the last few years.
"The fact that the school has become secure in the past eight years makes the children feel safe in school more than at home because there are still homes that are not safe," said the father of one of the students returning to school.
"I am scared to return to school because there is still fear of walking from my home to here (school) and from here home. But at least the school is safe," said another student.
"We are not sleeping at night and what can I say I am personally always afraid, I hardly leave my house. I cannot say that the army should go kill everybody, you can't because not everybody is bad, I personally know that," said Eliran, a resident of Ashkelon, which has been recently hit by rocket fire.
Israel and Hamas vowed on Sunday to fight on, ignoring international calls to stop the conflict in the Gaza Strip which entered its 16th day with heavy clashes between the Israeli army and Islamist militants.
Hamas's leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, said his group would not consider a truce until Israelits military offensive and opens the coastal enclave's border crossings.
Israel sent tanks deeper into the enclave and threatened to intensify its air and ground assaults.
Palestinian witnesses reported heavy fighting east of the city of Gaza where Hamas militants fired anti-tank missiles and mortar bombs at advancing Israeli troops who responded with tank shells and air strikes.
Some 846 Palestinians and thirteen Israelis --- three civilians killed by rocket fire and 10 soldiers --- have been killed since the offensive began on Dec. 27. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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