3 wounded as Grad rockets hit Ashdod

One hurt moderately; 3 wounded in Kiryat Gat as 3 rockets hit city; at least 23 rockets land in Israel.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST STAFF
Kassam field cool 248.88 (photo credit: AP)
Kassam field cool 248.88
(photo credit: AP)
Two Grad rockets fired from Gaza hit Kiryat Gat on Friday afternoon, wounding three people and causing heavy damage. Others were treated for shock following the attack. Ashdod was also targeted by two Grad rockets Friday afternoon. One rocket struck the yard of a home, wounding one man moderately and one man lightly. They were taken for treatment in Rehovot's Kaplan Hospital. The other projectile hit a factory in the city, causing heavy damage but no casualties. At least one man was treated for shock following the attack. The latest attacks brought the number of rockets and mortar shells fired at Israel on Friday to twenty three. Earlier, one rocket landed in an open field in the Eshkol region and two rockets hit Ashkelon. No casualties were reported there but a building in the city was damaged. Palestinians fired two Kassams at the Netivot area as well. No casualties or damage were reported. Also on Friday, five Kassam rockets and a mortar shell were fired from Gaza at the western Negev. Four of the rockets and the mortar shell hit the Eshkol region, while the fifth Kassam struck the Sdot Negev area. The projectiles hit open fields, causing no casualties, but several agricultural buildings were damaged. Two of the rockets were fired during the four-hour humanitarian truce declared by the IDF. On Thursday, despite his mother's best efforts to protect him with her body, a seven-year-old boy was seriously wounded in Beersheba when shrapnel from a Grad rocket penetrated his skull. Surgeons at the city's Soroka University Medical Center were battling to stabilize Uriel Elazarov's condition, saying his life was in danger. The boy's 43-year-old mother was seriously wounded in the abdomen by the rocket, and four other people sustained wounds described as light to moderate. Magen David Adom said 17 people were treated for shock. The Grad was one of two rockets fired at Beersheba at approximately 5 p.m. The second one hit an open area just outside the city, causing no injuries. Some 25 rockets were fired on southern Israel throughout Thursday. One hit the patio of a home in Sderot, causing serious damage to the building but no injuries.