10-Dec-11: Incoming rockets: An uncomfortable Sabbath

PRC terrorists give a media conference, August 2011 [Image Source].
Sadly, it seems, no one, other than journalists from a multitude
of media channels, knows where to find them.

The Jewish Sabbath begins every Friday evening at sunset. We happen to be in the midst of a two-front escalation by the terror groups arrayed on Israel's northern and southern borders. For the residents living within range of the jihadists, this is an especially discomforting time, though the extremely scarce reporting in the world's media means it's understood by very few people outside the neighborhood.

As the Sabbath approached yesterday (Friday) afternoon, a rocket, heading in the direction of the city of Ashdod was shot down in mid-flight by counter-fire from an Iron Dome defence battery, according to JPost. Two other Gazan Palestinian-Arab terrorist rockets were fired shortly after 5 pm in the direction of Be'er Tuvia. And at about the time families were seated at the Sabbath table, three more rockets exploded in the Eshkol region. Yet another crashed into the Shaar Hanegev region. JPost says Sderot came under fire around 10 pm Friday night, exploding in an open field and causing no casualties or damage. Two additional rockets were fired after 11 pm, landing in the Ashkelon Beach and Eshkol regions. Again, thankfully, no injuries or damage are reported. That was not the intention of the terrorists.

Today, Saturday, the Sabbath day in Israel, the firings continued. Two Qassam rockets crashed into the Eshkol region at about 7:30 a.m, according to INN. Both exploded in open fields, causing no physical injuries or damage. A little later this morning, two Grad rockets slammed into the Asheklon region, both exploding in open areas. "Credit" was claimed by the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) terrorist organization that operates freely within the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip, giving press conferences at will, as the AP syndicated photo above demonstrates.

UPDATE Saturday 10 pm: It's reported that Hamas is "worried that the renewed rocket attacks on Israel could torpedo the implementation of the second phase of the prisoner exchange agreement that saw the release of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit." How worried? Worried enough to step in and actually stop the firing of dozens of weekly rockets directed at Israel? In a territory they totally dominate that is frequently described as "the most densely populated place on earth" though it certainly is not even close to being that? [Tel Aviv and London and numerous other cities are more densely populated by far.] No, not that worried.

UPDATE Saturday 11:45 pm: From Ynet: "A rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists in northern Gaza Saturday night landed in an open area within the limits of the Eshkol Regional Council in the Negev. There were no reports of injury or damage."