18-Jan-14: Gazan rocket attack on southern Israel at 11 tonight

The Tzeva Adom incoming-missile warning system was heard throughout the northern Negev desert area of southern Israel at a few minutes after 11 this evening, sending thousands of residents into their safe rooms and bomb shelters. A rocket fired from Gaza appears to have crashed into open fields (according to Ynet) in the Sha'ar Hanegev region (population about 6,000) without causing injury or damage, though this was plainly not the intention of the terrorists who took their lives in their hands by mounting the attack.

We write often about these ongoing assaults on the civilians - almost never on the military - of southern Israel by the terror forces of Hamas-controlled Gaza. Time to put some simple statistics under the reports. Our experience is that even Israel's staunchest supporters and friends have little idea of the scale of this horror.

The numbers in the table below come from two different sources. Each has its own criteria, but more importantly the fact that there is no systematic reporting of the ongoing day-by-day assault means there's no single source of authoritative data. This is a pity.

Missiles Fired Into Southern Israel From Gaza  thisongoingwar.blogspot.com
Year	Rocket Attacks	Rockets and Mortars		Injuries	Deaths
	IDF	Wikipedia		Wikipedia	Wikipedia
2001	510				1
2002	661				1
2003	848				1
2004	1,528				5
2005	488	1,255			6
2006	1,123	1,777		371	9
2007	2,427	2,807		578	10
2008	3,278	3,716		611	15
2009	774	858		11	2
2010	231	365		35	5
2011	627	680		81	3
2012	2,248	2,273		284	6
2013	36
2014	15
Totals:	14,794	13,731		1,971	64

The gaps in the table reflect the absence of systematic record keeping at various times. They do not signify zero. The ongoing total for 2014 was accurate only up until last week and does not include tonight's.