Short version: I'm still safe. An Israeli child was killed, so I believe there will be yet another escalation.It was bound to happen eventually, with thousands of rockets launched at Israel, statistically speaking there would be direct hits. It started small, in a synagogue in Ashdod, with three minor injuries from a direct hit. Then a mortar shell ( Read more... )

Remember how there were explosions and sirens and stuff in my last post? As it turned out, after the ceasefire was broken at 15:30 by several rockets towards Beer-Sheva (and I think Sderot as well), the usual exchange of fire ensued. But something was different. Somehow we got intelligence about the whereabouts of Muhammad Deif, commander in chief ( Read more... )

Yesterday it was extended by 24 hours, in a last ditch effort to get to an understanding. But as they said, the positions of the two sides were too far apart. If the details of the offer the Palestinians agreed to were right, then it's no wonder our side refused. Agreeing to it would have probably guaranteed chaos in Israel - probably the coalition ( Read more... )

Not before the "factions" (the organizations other than the Hamas, which are nominally independent, but only shoot when it allows them to...) launched four attacks on the South. Just for fun. This time our airforce retaliated, but not to worry, this was symbolic as well, we only shot some empty fields, though the IDF spokesman said there were ( Read more... )

And of course, a few minutes before its start, as they do, the Hamas shot several rockets, At Beer Sheva, Ashdod, etc., and one on Tel-Aviv. Which fell in an open space without a siren, again. I think it was a bit further than it was the previous time, though it certainly frightened the cats ( Read more... )

And as usual, it was broken before the set time, and not by Israel. So far, about 35 rockets have been launched at the "Gaza Wrapper" area (the area a few kilometers outside Gaza) as well as Ashqelon. How predictable. Now the IDF started retaliating, with air strikes and artillery. Artillery is the worse one - it's a lot less accurate than air-to- ( Read more... )

The Egyptians managed to pull it off. So far this ceasefire is actually holding up ( Read more... )

Today's siren happened at 6AM. And I went to sleep only around 3AM, this being the weekend and all... So I was very groggy as I came down the stairs. I don't think all the neighbors actually woke up - only two families showed up. The neighbor next door was chatty. Actually, she fell into a nearly-hysterical laughter. She said "Oh, now they've done ( Read more... )

Yesterday, I heard a couple of booms. This is becoming too familiar. No siren, booms - the siren must be in one of the nearby cities, and the booms are the interceptions ( Read more... )

We did have a siren in Tel-Aviv after all. Together with the whole central area, Ashdod and other places. At 2:30 sharp in the middle of the night. Woke up and automatically headed to pick up my phone and go downstairs, as the neighbors were emerging from their homes, sleepy children in their arms, and we all went down in eerie silence. Usually ( Read more... )