- Title: ISRAEL: Israeli Bedouins lack basic shelter from Hamas rockets
- Date: 2nd January 2009
- Summary: WIDE OF CHILDREN PLAYING IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT OF RAHAT SAYING: "Some of the houses they haven't got shelters, and I think the Israeli government has not done anything since Rahat been built. No public shelters at all". WOMAN CROSSING STREET CARS DRIVING IN STREET
- Embargoed: 17th January 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA3QOA7O93XCMWHHKMPHC82HC
- Story Text: Large Bedouin community in southern Israel lacks basic shelter amid barrage of Hamas rockets.
Residents of a Bedouin town in southern Israel complained on Thursday (January 1) of insufficient shelter to protect them from Hamas rockets.
"There are sirens but no protection. Where should I run? Other than a bus stop, where should I go?", said a resident of the southern Bedouin town of Rahat.
Israel has been waging an aerial war against Hamas in Gaza for six days and the Islamist group has increased its rocket range hitting cities, towns and communities like Rahat, adjacent to Beer Sheba in Israel's Negev region.
Rahat, about 25 km (15 miles) away from the border with the Gaza Strip, was struck by a Hamas rocket for the first time this week, and many of its residents say the town does not have enough shelters or protection from the attacks. The rocket hit a greenhouse.
"Some of the houses they haven't got shelters, and I think the Israeli government has not done anything since Rahat been built. No public shelters at all", said a resident of Rahat.
Tens of thousands of Bedouins, once desert nomads, live in informal shanty towns in the Negev.
Israeli Defence Ministry spokesman was not available to comment about the lack of protection in Rahat.
On Thursday, Israel killed senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan in an air attack on his home in the Gaza strip, striking its first deadly blow against the top ranks of Hamas.
Israeli aircraft also attacked government buildings in the Hamas-run coastal territory and the Islamist group fired more rockets at Israel after both foes spurned international calls for a ceasefire.
Israeli tanks and troops were massed near the border of the Gaza Strip and the Haaretz newspaper reported on Thursday the Israeli army had recommended a major but short-term ground offensive into the densely populated enclave.
Diplomats said the deadliest conflict in the Gaza Strip in four decades could get even bloodier after days of air strikes that have killed at least 400 Palestinians, about a quarter of whom, U.N. figures showed, were civilians, and wounded more than 1,700. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None