At least 20 missiles were fired by Gaza terrorists at the coastal city of Ashkelon between midnight and 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning with more fired later in the day. By evening, six civilians were wounded and a number of others suffered emotional shock in the attacks.

One rocket slammed into a house in the port city, sending the occupants into severe shock. A car exploded in flames after being hit by another missile in the city.

Early Sabbath morning, a woman and two children were lightly wounded and a number of others suffered shock in one of the rocket attacks.

Later in the day, one civilian was moderately wounded and two others were lightly injured in a rocket attack on the Ashkelon Marine Coastal Center. Several other people were treated for shock.

All of the injured were taken to the city's Barzilai Hospital with shrapnel wounds. The Health Department ordered the hospital to transfer its maternity and neo-natal units to protected shelters.

The Home Front Command has instructed the Ashkelon municipality to open its public bomb shelters in order to allow residents to take cover once a "Color Red" alert sounds.

The rocket alert system was also expanded Saturday to include other communities located near Ashkelon, including Kfar Silver, Berchya, Bat Kadar, Beit Shikma, Mavki'im, Talmei Yafeh, Gaya and Mishan.  

One third of the residents of Sderot have left the that city and more than 75 percent of its children suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of the thousands of rocket attacks fired on the city in the past seven years.

An eight-year-old boy lost a leg and his 19-year-old brother was also seriously injured in a rocket attack on Sderot one week ago. A number of other Israeli children were also hurt in rocket attacks in the past week, including one who was hit by shrapnel as she huddled outside a locked bomb shelter seconds after hearing the wail of the Color Red rocket alert siren.

The city of Netivot, in the western Negev, as well as the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo came under fire Saturday night after midnight.

A Grad-type Katyusha rocket was fired from Gaza, landing in the Negev town of Netivot before dawn Sunday morning. It landed near the grave of famed Morrocan Jewish Kabbalist Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, the Baba Sali, in an open field. No injuries or damage were reported, though the landing did christen yet another large town, now within range of extended rocket fire from Gaza.

Posters around Netivot prior to the 2005 Disengagement warned residents that a Gaza withdrawal would lead to their homes being shelled.

Gilo Back in the Firing Line
Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood was once again fired upon from PA-controlled Beit Jalla. The attacks were a regular occurrence at the start of the Oslo War, resulting in the construction of huge concrete barriers and the eventual dismantling of PA infrastructure in the area during Operation Defensive Shield.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has revived the PA and authorized armed Fatah members to operate in Bethlehem and the Beit Jallah suburb.

Terrorists Fire on Community of Psagot
Terrorists opened fire toward IDF soldiers near the Jewish town of Psagot in the Binyamin region on Saturday night.  No soldiers were injured in the attack.

Psagot is on the outskirts of Ramallah, the seat of power of the Fatah branch of the Palestinian Authority. Fatah is controlled by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and receives millions of dollars in funding and weapons training from the United States.

Earlier Saturday, Arabs threw Molotov cocktails at soldiers in Hevron.  An Arab man who attempted to throw a bomb at soldiers in Beit Oumar was wounded when the bomb blew up in his hand; he was taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment.

Gaza Expellees Get Warning Siren, Still No Shelter
Hundreds of Jewish families living in the temporary village of Nitzan have begun hearing the “Color Red” warning system, which has been put into use in coastal towns near Ashkelon.  However, residents of the village continue to live in caravans, and have no sheltered space to run to in case of missile or rocket attacks.

“There is no protection in the area and no option to hide.  We are exposed to fire and to danger with no possibility to seek protection anywhere,” a spokesman for the community said Saturday.  A rocket that landed on a caravan last week destroyed the caravan completely, he added.

Ashkelon Preemies Taken to Reinforced Rooms
Staff members in Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon moved all premature babies to a protected room reinforced against rocket strikes on Saturday, at the request of the IDF Home Front Command.  The move was made just two days after several Grad-type Katyusha rockets landed in Ashkelon, some near the hospital.

Several people were wounded in rocket strikes in Ashkelon on Saturday.  The decision to move some immobile patients to sheltered rooms was seen as a lesson from the Second Lebanon War, when many rocket attack victims were taken to hospitals that were not reinforced against rocket attacks.

The Israel Defense Forces killed 47 Palestinian Authority terrorists and wounded 40 others in Gaza over the weekend, according to PA sources. The casualties included several civilians, most during clashes with Hamas gunmen in northern Gaza.  Hamas and allied terrorist groups recently intensified their war against Israel and attacked Ashkelon, injuring several people.

An initial IDF statement quoted PA sources, saying "according to the report,12 of the casualties were civilians. PA [Chairman] Mahmoud Abbas has called on Israel to stop all strikes in Gaza and urged Palestinian [terrorist] groups to halt ongoing rocket attacks on Israeli communities."

A subsequent statement by the IDF spokesperson's office noted, "Since the beginning of last night’s operations, forces have identified nine Grad missile launchings, four which are confirmed as having landed in Israel, near Ashkelon. In addition to this 30 Qassam rockets were fired, 13 of which fell in Israel, and 11 mortar shells were fired, three which fell in Israel."

Intense attacks by Givati and Armored Brigades, backed up by Israel Air Force fighter pilots, eliminated numerous terrorist cells firing mortar shells, rockets, anti-tank missiles and RPG (rocket-propelled grenades).

Two Israeli soldiers paid for their units' success with their lives. Both were members of the IDF's elite Givati Brigade.

One of the soldiers was identified as 20-year-old Staff Sergeant Doron Asulin of Be'er Sheva, a member of the Givati Brigade's patrol battalion. The second soldier is Staff Sergeant Eran Dan Gur, 20 from Jerusalem, a member of the Givati Brigade's Shaked battalion.

Six others suffered shrapnel wounds in the same clash; one officer was moderately wounded and five other soldiers were lightly injured.

IDF soldiers bombed a truck in northern Gaza carrying 160 rockets ready for use against Israel. On Saturday evening, IDF troops attacked the Rafiah police station. At least four people were killed.

More than 180 missiles have been launched at Israel by Gaza terrorists – two rocket launches per hour -- since Wednesday.

On Saturday, reported the IDF in its statement, "A salvo of more than 50 Kassam rockets was launched today from Gaza at Israeli cities and towns in southern Israel, injuring 22 residents of Sderot and Ashkelon and causing severe damage to property. The injured were transported to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for treatment, which was itself the target of a rocket strike earlier in the week. Over 90 rockets have been launched at southern Israel since Thursday."

Several barrages of Grad missiles were fired at Ashkelon between midnight and 8:00 a.m. Saturday, injuring a woman and two children by flying shrapnel.

Three other people were injured in the port city's Marine Coastal Center late Saturday afternoon.  One was moderately wounded and two others suffered light injuries.

Late Friday afternoon, two Kassam rockets exploded in the Sderot cemetery. Earlier in the day, a rocket scored a direct hit on a house in the western Negev city, lightly wounding one woman and sending a number of others into shock.

Residents in Ashkelon protested Saturday night, calling on the government to take steps to end the attacks and protect the city. The Homefront Command activated the Color Red rocket alert system that was recently installed throughout Ashkelon and has also ordered neighboring towns to be hooked up with the system.

PA officials slammed Israel for the intensifed attacks on Gaza. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas asked the United Nations to intervene and force Israel to stop its counterterrorist activities.

Jordan and Egypt both condemned Israel for the attacks with muted statements accusing the Jewish State of "violating international law" and "[carrying] out these operations without caluclating the consequences on the adopted peace efforts."

Hamas terrorists were recently warned by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit that Egyptian security forces would "cut the legs off" anyone who tried to repeat the terrorists' breach of the Gaza-Egypt border near Rafiah in January. Hamas blew up a 200-meter length of border barrier, enabling hundreds of thousands of Gaza Arabs to flood through the border while attacking Egyptian security personnel as they tried to reseal the barrier.

A report published in Friday's New York Times quoted one Gaza father whose 14-year-old son was killed in the crossfire during an IDF strike on a rocket-launching team. "I couldn't identify the body of my son," he said. "I'm against these rockets, but I am afraid. What can I do?  If I protest they will hit me, they will kill me."

Another Gaza resident interviewed by the Reuters news agency lamented Saturday that it was dangerous to be outside. "We are living in the middle of a battle zone," said 21-year-old Rami Muhammad Ali, interviewed by phone from Jabalya. "We wanted to flee the house, but we've been trapped since last night."

The Israel Air Force demolished the office of Hamas PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in a Gaza air strike Sunday morning.

The Hamas chief’s office was razed by three missiles from IAF helicopters during the pre-dawn hours. The building was empty at the time. Another office of Haniyeh’s, as well as a guard post outside his home, have been targeted over the last week.

The bodyguard of Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud a-Zahar was also killed in one of several air strikes over the weekend.

Names of Fallen Soldiers Released
The soldiers who were killed while taking part in Gaza counter-terror operations were St. Sgt. Doron Assulin of Be'er Sheva and St. Sgt. Eran Dan-Gur of Jerusalem. Assulin’s funeral will take place at 3 PM in his home town and Dan-Gur will be buried on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem at noon.

Hamas terrorists in Gaza continued to fire rockets at Israel, scoring two direct hits in the Negev and sending several people into trauma.  A factory in Sderot was hit, as was a house in a nearby community.  Other rockets hit areas termed "open" in the Eshkol and Shaar HaNegev areas of the western Negev, and continued to fall in the vicinity throughout the early afternoon. 

A total of 15 rockets, and several mortar shells, had been fired at the Negev by 2 PM. Seven people were treated in Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital for trauma. 

Meanwhile, Arabs throughout the Palestinian Authority attempted to open new fronts of anti-Israel violence.  In Hevron, Bethlehm and elsewhere in Judea and Samaria, army forces were compelled to use force to contain Arab mobs, and 40 were injured.  PA sources claimed that one Arab was killed.  An IDF officer was lightly hurt near Bethlehem, and a Jewish man was lightly wounded in Hevron.

In Shuafat, a northern Jerusalem Arab slum neighborhood, dozens of Arabs threw rocks at security forces and burned tires. 

On the Temple Mount, Arabs stoned visiting Jews, and then tried to roll a car down towards Israeli security forces; no one was hurt.

In the western Shomron, near Avnei Heifetz, Palestinian terrorists fired at a passing car.  The car happened to have been driven by an Israeli-Arab, and no one was hurt.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that Israel will be "uprooted" and its leaders tried for Saturdays counter-terror strikes on Gaza. Iran is a generous sponsor of terror activities and a primary patron of a number of terrorist organizations.

"I already said last year that the real Holocaust was in Palestine," Ahmadinejad told state television in an interview, alluding to his oft-repeated doubts about the magnitude of the mass slaughter of Jews in World War II. 

Palestinian Authority chief negotiator Ahmed Qureia suspended talks with Israel Saturday over stepped-up IDF operations which killed some 60 terrorists and wounded at least 60 others in Gaza, most of them members of Hamas.

Qureia officially notified Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of the decision Saturday evening. She replied, "Even if the Palestinians suspend talks, it won't influence in any way the decisions or operations Israel carries out to defend its citizens. From the beginning, this was the basis of talks with the moderate elements in the Palestinian Authority."

The attacks on Gaza terrorists came after days of warnings by government officials there would be a "harsh response" if they did not cease attacking Israel with rockets, averaging two attacks per hour since last Wednesday.
The rocket attacks which resulted in the death of an innocent Israeli and injuries to many more must cease and are utterly to be condemned.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday that Israel held Hamas responsible for the civilian casualties and would continue its operations to end the terror attacks on Israeli citizens.

"We are not happy about civilians being hurt in Gaza," said Barak in a statement. "Hamas and those who fire rockets at Israel are responsible and they will pay the price."

Six Israelis were wounded in missile attacks on the coastal city of Ashkelon Saturday, including two children, and many others suffered shock. There were a number of other attacks on Sderot as well, lightly wounding at least one person and sending others into shock. A total of 49 Israelis were taken to Barzilai Medical Center in the city.

Ronnie Yechiya, a husband and father of four who was a student at Sapir College adjacent to Sderot, was killed this past week in a rocket attack on the city, and a number of Jewish children have been seriously wounded recently by the missiles fired from northern Gaza. One young boy lost his leg when a rocket exploded three feet away from him as he frantically sought shelter.

Abbas: Attacks 'More Than Holocaust'
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Saturday evening appealed to the United Nations to force Israel to end its attacks. "[Abbas] has asked for an urgent session of the Security Council," said PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah in a statement.

Denouncing the attacks as "more than a Holocaust," Abbas called for "international protection for the Palestinian people," claiming that IDF attacks were aimed at "innocent women, children and old people." Abbas's doctoral thesis in 1983 dealt with denying the extent of the Holocaust.
 
Hamas, which rules Gaza, declared three days of mourning for the Gaza dead. The terrorist organization also said it would cancel classes in its schools on Sunday.

Foreign Reactions Divided
The official Jordanian news agency Petra quoted King Abdullah II as saying in a phone conversation with Abbas that the IDF operations were "a violation of all international conventions." He termed the IDF counterterrorist operations "a massacre."

The Egyptian Foreign also criticized the attacks on Gaza terrorists. "It is regretful that Israel carries out these operations without calculating the consequences on the adopted peace efforts," read the statement.

Both nations have peace treaties with Israel.

The Libyan Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing similar sentiments, calling on the Arab world to halt what it called an Israeli military campaign aimed at "wiping out the Palestinian people". 

The Bush administration issued a statement in Washington urging Jerusalem to "consider the consequences" of its Gaza military activities. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is still scheduled to arrive in Israel by mid-week and has added Egypt to her agenda.

Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair harshly condemned the constant rocket fire on southern Israel by Gaza terrorists while at the same time appealing to Israeli officials to avoid hurting Gaza civilians while trying to end the attacks on western Negev residents.

"The loss of civilian life including children is absolutely tragic," said Blair on Friday. "The rocket attacks which resulted in the death of an innocent Israeli and injuries to many more must cease and are utterly to be condemned."

Sderot is facing more powerful rockets and Ashkelon is now within range as well. Arutz-7 brings you photos of the aftermath of rocket strikes...

Email subscribers, click here to view photo essay

Members of the local ZAKA unit collect body parts and blood of a victim of a Kassam rocket attack for burial
(Photo: Flash 90)

A rooftop where a Grad-type Katyusha impacted in Ashkelon
(Photo: Flash 90)

The bombed-out living room of a home in Ashkelon struck by a Grad-type Katyusha rocket
(Photo: Flash 90)

A home struck by a Grad-type Katyusha rocket in Ashkelon
(Photo: Flash 90)

A young girl from Sderot at Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital after being wounded by shrapnel in a Kassam rocket attack
(Photo: The Israel Project)

A car struck by a rocket from Gaza lies charred
(Photo: Flash 90)

A man is put on an ambulance after being wounded in the explosion of a Kassam rocket from Gaza
(Photo: Flash 90)

A man wounded by shrapnel is put aboard an ambulance as medics wear protective gear during a Kassam barrage
(Photo: Flash 90)

Osher Twito, wounded by a Kassam rocket, in his bed in Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital after having his leg amputated
(Photo: Flash 90)

A hole caused by a Kassam rocket explosion in Sderot
(Photo: Flash 90)

Sappers inspect an impact site of a Grad rocket in Ashkelon near the sea
(Photo: Flash 90)

A Sderot resident interrupted during prayers by a rocket shows a piece of shrapnel included in a Kassam rocket's explosive payload to inflict maximum casualties
(Photo: Flash 90)

The destroyed interior of a home struck by a Kassam rocket in Sderot
(Photo: Flash 90)

Students duck and cover beneath their desks when the Color Red alert system sounds
(Photo: Flash 90)

The Color Red alert system affords about ten to fifteen seconds to find cover before a rocket lands and detonates
(Photo: Flash 90)

Students have taken to singing songs about the Kassam rockets to releive the tension while ducking beneath their desks when the alarm sounds
(Photo: Flash 90)

A destroyed vehicle struck by a Kassam rocket in Sderot
(Photo: Flash 90)

Fire fighters inspect a hole in a home caused by a Grad-type Katyusha rocket in Ashkelon
(Photo: Flash 90)

A man wounded in a Grad-type Katyusha rocket attack on Ashkelon
(Photo: Flash 90)

Medics evacuate the wounded during a Kassam rocket attack in Sderot
(Photo: Flash 90)

One of the "open areas" in which Kassam rockets fall outside Sderot, setting fires and destroying crops
(Photo: Flash 90)

A Kassam rocket ingites a wheat field outside Sderot
(Photo: Flash 90)

A charred wheat field after a Kassam rocket "landed in an open area outside Sderot, causing no injuries"
(Photo: Flash 90)

An IDF soldier stationed on the outskirts of Gaza prays the morning prayer and awaits the order to reenter the Hamas-controlled tract of the Land of Israel
(Photo: Flash 90)

A Sunday morning report in Israel's largest Hebrew-language news site, Yediot Acharonot's Ynet, seeks to warn readers that the IDF's anti-rocket offensive is causing a "crisis" in Gaza.  However, 82 out of 83 talkbacks [at the time this article was prepared - ed.] were not swayed, refusing to show compassion for rocket-launching terrorists.

Just 36 hours after Israel began its offensive in retaliation for dozens of Katyushas and Kassams against Israel - in Ashkelon, Sderot and the western Negev - Ynet's Avraham Zino presented the view from Gaza's main hospital.

The eight paragraphs that follow the article's introduction devote four sentences to the number of dead on both sides, and conclude with a call by "Physicians for Human Rights" for hospitals to be allowed to deal with the injured. The remainder of the article is all Dr. Halil Nahal, the director of the emergency ward in Gaza's Shifa Hospital.       

Zino quotes Dr. Nahal at length speaking of the crowded conditions in the emerency ward and the lack of medicines and equipment.  The doctor also laments the fact that the injured cannot be transferred to Israeli hospitals "because the crossings are closed."   

The responses of the first group of 83 talkbacks to the article indicate that left-wing media does not have as strong an effect as right-wing media monitors have long feared.

Over 80 of them responded that the attacking party need not expect compassion from the party it attacks - and some of them criticised Ynet for turning the doctor's words into a full-fledged article.
"To Ynet - please stop reporting how much they're suffering. Yes, I'm sorry about children who don't have a childhood; our children, too, don't have a childhood...
  

"See once again how the media is melting our hearts," one wrote, "and now you will understand who was to blame in the Second Lebanon War, and also in this offensive." 

Another one responded, "To Ynet - please stop reporting how much they're suffering. Yes, I'm sorry about children who don't have a childhood; our children, too, don't have a childhood, and that's what really bothers me, as a mother of two..."

Army Radio Broadcaster Prefers Zionism to Good Media
In another war-related media matter, Avri Gilad - who mans the left-wing slot in Army Radio's talk radio left-right debate show with right-wing Uri Orbach - attacked his colleagues for preferring a "good media item" over the Zionist enterprise. 

Army Radio's Razi Barkai, together with guest interviewer and former television news anchor Chaim Yavin, had interviewed Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai earlier on Sunday.  They wished to speak to Vilnai regarding his recent threat that "the terrorists in Gaza are liable to bring a holocaust upon themselves, because we will respond in full force to those who fire rockets at us."

In light of the fact that Palestinian Authority leaders immediately took advantage of the expression - Mahmoud Abbas, for instance, said that the deaths of over 50 people in Gaza in Israel's air attacks were worse than the Holocaust - Barkai and Yavin challenged Vilnai over his use of the expression.  Vilnai was forced to explain that he did not say "the Holocaust," but only "a holocaust," and did not retract his words. 

In a moment of candor, broadcaster Avri Gilad said, in the next hour of Army Radio talk radio that in time of war, Israeli officials need not be blamed for taking a tough stance.  "It is sad," Gilad said, "that sometimes we journalists choose a certain topic simply because it is a good media item - seemingly without concern for the fact that in the process we are causing tremendous harm to the entire Zionist enterprise."

Gilad also expressed his negative opinion to Army Radio's new policy of announcing "Color Red" warning alerts in real time, saying that he believed this gives the enemy too much information about the results of their rocket launchings.  He was forced to announce two such alerts during the course of an hour.