9-Jul-14: Wednesday afternoon log

Ashdod: Vehicle struck by a Gazan missile
[Image Source]

The rocket attacks keep coming and the life of a vibrant society continues to be conducted here in Israel despite the intense challenges. This post is updated as often as we can manage as the day's events happen. (It follows on from this earlier post.)

• 2:10 pm: Two incoming rockets were intercepted in the skies over Kiryat Gat in the past few minutes, according to Ynet. In additionto the thousands of homes in the area, some significant civilian businesses are located there.
• 2:20 pm: Haaretz says multiple Gazan rockets were intercepted in mid-air over Sderot and Kiryat Gat.
• 2:45 pm: Reports of Hamas claiming to have fired at Haifa. No indication that they either say they hit it or that it was in fact hit. There are also reports (including via Haaretz) of Tzeva Adom rocket sirens being heard in the Zichron Yaakov area on the Israeli coast north of Tel Aviv about 110 km north of Gaza. UPDATE: Haaretz now says two rockets crashed and exploded in open areas near Zichron Yaakov, injuring one person. That's the furthest north those Hamas rockets have reached so far. Haaretz says the rockets are probably M-302 rockets, "the same make that struck Hadera on Tuesday. On March 5, Israeli naval forces intercepted the Klos-C, a ship carrying 40 Syrian M-302 rockets from Iran to the Gaza Strip."
• 2:55 pm: Additional rockets intercepted in the skies above Sderot (Haaretz).
• 3:15 PM: Anshel Pfeffer from Haaretz tweets: "Media lesson from Op. Cast Lead #Israel allowing foreign journos into #Gaza - Government prefers unfriendly reports to rumors of "genocide"
• 4:05 pm: Tzeva Adom - Ashkelon city, and the Hof Ashkelon region (some details at this Hebrew-language forum)
• 4:15 pm: Tzeva Adom - Bnei Shimon and Merchavim regions (more details here for Hebrew readers)
• 4:45 pm: Tzeva Adom, according to Times of Israel, in the city of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem
• 5:00 pm: The IDF is claiming [Haaretz] an extraordinary impact for its Iron Dome anti-missile system: which "is activated only when the rockets fired by Palestinian militants at Israel appear likely to hit populated areas. It has been activated to intercept about 27 percent of the approximately 180 rockets fired between Monday night and midday Wednesday. Of the times when Iron Dome was activated, it successfully intercepted the rockets nearly 90 percent of the time, and there have been few rocket hits or serious injuries. The success of the defense system marks an improvement over the 84 percent success rate during Operation Pillar of Defense."
• 5:05 pm: Times of Israel reports that Iron Dome brings down a rocket over the central Dan region. Another in the same area is believed to have crashed in an open area. Immediately before, the Tzeva Adom sirens were heard in Bat Yam and Holon, two satellite cities of Greater Tel Aviv.
• 5:30 pm: At Haaretz, they are now reporting that 6 mortars were fired into the Eshkol region.
• 5:30 Tzeva Adom in Sdot Negev and Sha'ar HaNegev regions
• 5:40 pm: At Rehovot's Kaplan Medical Center, patients from the cardiology and intensive care wards are now being moved to fortified rooms because of the Gazan rocket fire [source]
• 6:00 pm: Haaretz quotes sources in the IDF saying they have bombed 31 tunnels in Gaza since this (Wednesday) morning, plus 60 concealed rocket launchers and rocket storage sites, and 12 buildings used as command centers by the forces at work in Gaza.
• 6:05 pm: Mahmoud Abbas, the "moderate" Fatah chief and president of the Palestinian Authority, is quoted this evening by the AFP newsagency in a syndicated news report in which he says Israel's actions in attacking Gaza amount to genocide. And let's be clear about this: Mahmoud Abbas knows about genocide. "Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza during its military campaign which has so far killed 43 Palestinians. "It's genocide -- the killing of entire families is genocide by Israel against our Palestinian people," he told a crisis meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah."
• 6:10 pm: At Ynet, they say there has been a massive rocket attack on the Eshkol region in the past hour: 9 rockets in total, and there is some serious damage.

The firing has not taken a break but we have, to go take care of family matters.