At least 90 wounded in rocket attacks; second woman dies

Woman dies in earlier Katyusha attack in Nahariya; over 85 rockets land in North; hospitals ordered to raise readiness level.

By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST.COM STAFF
destroyed hummer 224 88 (photo credit: Channel 1)
destroyed hummer 224 88
(photo credit: Channel 1)
Talkback quota is full; click here to respond Previous 200 talkbacks Katyusha rockets landed in the northern Israeli towns of Karmiel, Hatzor, and Majd el-Kurum, as well as several other communities, throughout the north on Thursday afternoon. At least 28 people were wounded in Majd el-Kurum - two moderately and seven from shrapnel. Others were lightly wounded and suffering from shock.
NORTHERN CRISIS: JPOST.COM SPECIAL COVERAGE
At least 90 Israelis have been wounded since the onset of Operation Just Reward Wednesday afternoon. Residents of Safed, Rosh Pina Hatzor and Karmiel were ordered to enter bomb shelters and fortified rooms on Thursday afternoon, as other residents of the north were ordered to do earlier. The calls came after Katyushas fell in Safed's immigration center, old marketplace, Safed College and the Amit Center. Some 21 Safed residents were wounded. At least two people were wounded at the immigration center. Two people were seriously wounded from shrapnel, while some were lightly wounded, and many more were in shock. MDA teams were treating the wounded at the scene and evacuating in ambulances to the city's Ziv Hospital (telephone 1255161, 04-6828621 for the hearing impaired). A 70-year-old Safed woman died of her wounds after arriving at the hospital, raising the civilian death toll to two. Hospitals throughout the North were ordered to raise their readiness level to Level Three, the second highest possible. Medical teams were being ordered to remain at their posts in expectation of continued Katyusha strikes. Earlier, on Thursday morning, one woman was killed and 29 were wounded - one seriously - when four Hizbullah-fired Katyusha rockets landed in central Nahariya. The woman was killed while sitting on her fifth-floor balcony. A rocket hit a floor above, cut through the ceiling and killed her. A short while later, two Katyusha rockets fell near Kibbutz Hagoshrim. Buildings in the area shook from the impact. Visitors were refusing to leave the hotel in the kibbutz and reservations were reportedly being canceled. Some 60 katyushas have been fired into northern Israel since Thursday morning. Many northern residents have begun leaving the area, fearing more attacks. At Nahariya Hospital, patients were moved to secure rooms on lower floors, and about 60 expectant mothers were taken to underground shelters, said hospital deputy director Moshe Daniel. He said elective surgery has been halted. "We are on very high alert," Daniel told Israel Radio. "We are prepared." Nahariya Mayor Jackie Sabag said the whole town has shut down, with businesses closed. Sabag urged all residents to comply with army orders to stay in underground shelters. All soldiers serving in Northern Command Headquarters in Safed also went down to shelters due to Katyusha attacks. Katyushas also fell on Thursday morning in Kfar Nasi in the Galilee and in Kibbutz Mahanayim, and along with the rockets in Karmiel, signified an increase in the range of Katyusha rockets to 20-30 kilometers. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the attacks. Hizbullah said that in some of its attacks it was using a rocket called "Thunder 1" for the first time, which may have a longer range than older Katyushas. On Thursday morning alone, there were confirmed Katyusha attacks on Nahariya, Rosh Pina, Kibbutz Hagoshrim, Kibbutz Mishmar Hayarden, Gadot, Kfar Nasi, Beit Hillel, Kibbutz Mahanayim, Kibbutz Kabri, Mount Hermon, Netiv Haasarah, Mount Meron, Shlomi, Zar'it. By the afternoon, rockets hit Karmiel, Safed, Hatzor, and Majd el-Kurum as well. "This is a new situation. The residents of Israel need to know that we are going into a period that will require resilience," Minister Issac Herzog said after the emergency cabinet meeting late Wednesday night. According to Herzog, Israel is holding Lebanon responsible for the attack, which was carried out from its territory. AP contributed to this report.