Hamas continues to pound Israel with rockets and mortar shells

Police on the scene of the rocket attack in Ashdod

Here is the latest from the Jerusalem Post:

Two people were killed on Monday night as Gaza terrorists continued to pound southern Israel with rockets and mortar shells.

One of the fatalities was a woman who had run to a bus stop in Ashdod for cover as a rocket hit the city.

The Grad-type rocket killed her and wounded four others - one seriously and three lightly - when it impacted near the bus stop.

The casualties were evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

It marks the first time a rocket has hit Ashdod. The city is Israel's fifth largest, with a population of some 250,000. It is located approximately 35 kilometers from Gaza.

The rocket was one of over 70 fired at southern Israel Monday.

In the second attack Monday night, one person was killed when a mortar shell fired by Gaza terrorists struck the Nahal Oz area, in the western Negev.

Five other people were wounded in the attack, one seriously, one moderately and three lightly.

In another attack earlier Monday, Hanni Al-Mahdi, 27, of the Beduin town of Aroer in the Negev, was killed and at least 14 people were wounded when a Grad-type missile hit a construction site in Ashkelon's center.

Of the wounded, five were reported to be in moderate-to-serious condition and the rest were lightly wounded. Several people were sent into shock by the attack.

According to Channel 2, the missile hit the top floor of the building, which did not yet have a roof.

Magen David Adom ambulances evacuated all the casualties to the city's Barzilai Hospital.

Most of the people at the site were Arab construction workers from Rahat and the Manda village in the Galilee.

Following the attack, Hamas's military wing called on Egyptian and Jordanian citizens working in Israel to leave all Israeli cities, Army Radio reported.

Hamas took responsibility for firing the missile and reported that a "Zionist" was killed in the attack.

Moussa, a construction worker from Kfar Manda who was lightly wounded in the Ashkelon attack, told Army Radio that there were about twelve workers at the site at the time of the attack.

Moussa said a public library was being constructed there, and added that the work at the site had been underway for several years.

In Sderot, several people suffered from shock after their house sustained a direct hit from a rocket.

The IDF on Monday morning declared the area along the Gaza border a closed military zone, denying entrance to all but local residents.

The ban included journalists. However, it was not clear how effectively the order was being upheld, as a correspondent for the British Sky News network was seen reporting from the border in the late morning.

Other News:
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- AF strikes Hamas rocket chief's home and truck carrying Grad-type missiles
- Netanyahu joins Gaza op PR effort
- Barak: This is 'all-out war' on Hamas
- Violent demos against Gaza op held in east Jerusalem
- Hamas chief of staff may be dead

Posted in: Hamas,Islamo Fascism,Israel