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Sep. 30, 2004
Two toddlers killed in rocket attack
Margot Dudkevitch
A Kassam rocket hit a path between two houses in the southern town of Sderot on Wednesday afternoon killing two toddlers, aged two and four.
The two children, both members of the same family, were later identified as Dorit Aniso, 2, and Yuval Abebeh, 4.
Magen David Adom paramedics who arrived at the scene of the attack on Moshe Rabenu Street also treated seven people, one of whom sustained serious wounds and the other six were moderately wounded.
Paramedics also assisted 19 other people, who suffered from either light shrapnel-wounds or shock.
The wounded have been taken to the Barsilai Hospital in Ashkelon and the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.
Social workers and counselors from the Immigration and Absorption Ministry and the Israel Police have been called for to assist the wounded, their families, and traumatized residents.
Police chief Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi visited Sderot Wednesday evening and instructed the police to increase their presence in the city in order to assist residents.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, which the group said was in revenge for the "crimes committed by the Zionist enemy" in the Gaza Strip where four Palestinians have been killed over the last two days.
IAF helicopters hit three separate groups of terrorists attempting to launch Kassam rockets from the Jabalya refugee camp hours following the deadly attack in Sderot.
An IAF helicopter early Thursday morning also fired missiles into a building, which officials said was a charity organization affiliated with the Islamic Jihad, whose funds were used to back terrorist operations.
Palestinians reported that three were killed and seven wounded in the IAF raids.
Soon after the attack the IDF imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip dividing it into three sections with roadblocks set up at the Tanchier Route, the Gush Katif junction, and the coastal road west of Netzarim.
The move is designed to prevent Palestinians from traveling between the north and south and to hamper the transfer of rockets and weapons by terrorists.
Sderot mayor Eli Moyal said that it is not the time to criticize the failure of the army to halt rocket attacks on the town.
Speaking on Israel Radio shortly after the attack Moyal said, "if the IDF receives the proper instructions I am sure the rocket attacks will stop."
"As far as I am concerned they can wipe out Beit Hanun or elsewhere in Gaza but now we need to focus on burying our dead. Later there will be time to criticize."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called Moyal and vowed to toughen military actions against Palestinian terror organizations in the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday evening, angry Sderot residents gathered near the scene of the attack and shouted "Death to the Arabs."
The attack comes despite the presence of Israel Defense Forces Givati, Golani and Combat Engineering units in the northern Gaza Strip, where they have been operating since Tuesday night in an attempt to halt Kassam rocket attacks on Israeli communities. The troops have taken up positions on the outskirts of the Jabalya refugee camp, Beit Hanun and Beit Lahiya.
About 110 Israeli vehicles — including tanks, armored personnel carriers and bulldozers — swarmed throughout a swath of northern Gaza that terrorists have used as a staging ground for rocket attacks on Israel, witnesses said.
In Memoriam
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