Babies evacuated after rocket attack
Israeli soldiers scrambled to evacuate babies from a day care centre in rocket-scarred Sderot today after a projectile fired by Palestinian militants thudded into the courtyard.
None of the 15 babies at the centre was hurt, but frantic parents across the city – already furious over the government’s failure to protect them and their children from the near-daily rocket fire – pulled their children out of schools on the second day of the academic year.
The army said six rockets were fired at the southern Israeli city, which lies just a few miles from the Gaza Strip, and at least one landed. The Islamic Jihad militant group claimed responsibility for firing three.
Batya Katar, head of the Sderot Parents Association, said parents were pulling all 2,500 of the town's students out of school.
“Buses are already on the way to pick up students who haven’t been taken home already,” Katar said.
The government promised to move students out of the city if there was an escalation in Palestinian rocket fire, she said.
“This is an escalation, but there is no sign of any solution,” Katar added.
