By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST STAFF, APkatyusha nahariya 298.88(photo credit: Associated Press)
Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said on Sunday afternoon that the more advanced Fajar missiles that were fired with a barrage of other rockets at Haifa on Sunday morning, killing eight people, were made in Syria.
Meanwhile, the names of the eight victims of the Haifa attack were released for publication. The following people all died when a rocket hit a maintenance depot at the train station: Shlomi Mansora, 35, from Nahariya; Rafi Hazan, 30, from Haifa; Kiryat Ata residents Nissin Elharach, 43, and Reuven Levy, 46; Kiryat Yam residents Asahel Damati, 39, David Feldman, 28, and Dennis Lapidus, 24, and Shmuel Ben Shimon, 41, from Upper Yokne'am.
Just two hours after the fatal attack, a second barrage of rockets landed in Haifa's port area and Nahariya.
A third barrage of rockets hit the Haifa area on Sunday afternoon. Nobody was wounded in the latest attack. Air raid sirens had sounded immediately before the Katyushas hit.
MDA reported on Sunday evening that eight people were killed and 39 people wounded, four seriously, nine moderately, eight lightly and 18 suffering shock, since Sunday morning in northern Israel.
Since the fighting in the north began, a total of 20 Israelis have been killed including IDF troops.
377 have been wounded - seven seriously, 22 moderately, 127 lightly and 201 have suffered shock.
All train traffic to and from the Haifa has been temporarily halted, with service ending at Binyamina.
The victims of the Haifa attacks were taken to Rambam and Bnei Zion hospitals in Haifa. [Haifa Municipality emergency hotline: 1212-466-106; Rambam information hotline: 1255144; Bnei Zion hotline: 1255-145; Karmel Hospital hotline: 1255-142]
"I saw bodies in the warehouse. The picture was not pleasant," one witness, who identified himself as Igor, told Army Radio.
About 30 people were working in the depot at the time of the attack, Ofer Litzevski, an official with the train company, told reporters.
The Home Front Command has ordered residents of Haifa, Acre and Nesher into bomb shelters. In addition, all residents north of the Haifa-Tiberias line should stay close to secure areas, the Home Front Command said Sunday morning.
Haifa Mayor Yoni Yahav said Sunday, "We have increased the emergency hotline's capabilities dramatically and opened up bomb shelters."
Egged stopped running buses in Haifa and Nahariya for a number of hours, and Bezeq said lines were overloaded, causing failures.
Security forces have instructed residents in the Gush Dan area - from Tel Aviv north - to raise their level of awareness.
If rockets were to start falling in the area, sirens would be sounded and residents would be instructed to enter secure rooms, bomb shelters, or, if neither were available, to lie flat on the ground.
Hizbullah bombarded Israel's northern communities earlier Sunday as well, as a barrage of Katyusha rockets hit Mount Meron and the Druse village of Hurfeish.
There were no reports of any casualties.
On Saturday, Hizbullah introduced Tiberias to the list of targets within the range of its rockets.
MDA reported that throughout Saturday it had treated 90 lightly wounded people, 15 of whom suffered from shrapnel and collusions. Over the weekend, the toll came to 185 casualties, including two fatalities, five people moderately wounded, 56 lightly wounded and 122 who suffered from shock.
The names of the two people who were killed in a bombardment on Meron on Friday evening - a child and his grandmother - were released on Saturday. The child was 7-year-old Omer Pesahov from Nahariya and his grandmother was 58-year-old Yehudit Itzkovich from Meron.
The IDF deployed Patriot anti-missile batteries in Haifa on Friday, in response to the number and range of the Hizbullah attacks.
For Home Front Command safety information click here.
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