Kassam salvo causes Sderot blackout

Sirens, emergency lines not working; 5 Palestinians killed in IDF ops against rocket squads.

By YAAKOV KATZ
gaza 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
gaza 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
While the IDF has yet to reduce the amount of electricity Israel supplies to Gaza, thanks to a directive issued by Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz, a Kassam rocket struck an electrical pole in Sderot on Sunday, causing blackouts throughout the town. The rocket was one of six fired into Israel during the day. Another scored a direct hit on a Sderot home, sending several people into shock. Due to the power outages, the Color Red siren system and 106 emergency hot line were off-line. Earlier Sunday, five Palestinians were killed when the IAF attacked two rocket squads in the northern Gaza Strip. Palestinian hospital officials said the three fatalities from the first strike were civilians, while Islamic Jihad said one of their members was killed and another was clinically dead following the subsequent attack. The first strike targeted a squad that had fired three rockets at the western Negev earlier in the morning, the IDF said. The second attack hit a Kassam squad that was preparing to fire additional rockets into Israel. Palestinian hospital officials and eyewitnesses said the three civilians - Zaher al-Aer, 40, his son Yusef, 18, and a neighbor, Muhammad Abu Herbet, 23 - were killed by an IAF missile that struck a trailer where they were sleeping. Hamas security officials said the three worked as guards in a nearby factory. AP contributed to this report.