Katyusha Rocket Strikes Home Of Israeli Christian Arab Family

On Saturday morning, Katyusha rockets were fired at the Galilee for the third time this year.

As in the previous two times, this rocket fire miraculously ended without fatalities. At about 9:30 a.m., residents of the Christian Arab Israeli village, Meila, which is near the Jewish city of Maalot, heard the sound of a loud explosion. Given the stormy weather, many of the residents initially thought it was a clap of thunder. A few minutes later however, police and rescue forces evacuated the scene and sent five people to the hospital.

Two of the injured suffered from shrapnel wounds and the other three suffered from shock.

The rocket in question was a Katyusha rocket of the kind that was fired at Israel the previous two times. A second rocket landed inside Lebanon, near the border fence with Israel.

Israeli security officials said it was their assessment the inclement weather had caused the rockets, that were aimed at Israel, to be fired.

Israeli artillery quickly located the launching site and shelled the area.

“A terror organization associated with global jihad is responsible for the rocket fire, even though everything that happens in southern Lebanon is under Hizbullah supervision,” said a military official from the Israeli military northern command yesterday. “The Lebanese government is the address. We will not resign ourselves to the attempts to create a new reality, and it doesn’t matter who is behind the launching. Israel is currently in a transition period, but the response will be forthcoming.”

The rocket hit the Abed family’s home, while the father of the family, Michael, was with his daughter on their way to school.

“My wife called me, frightened,” he recounted. “I heard everyone crying over the phone. They thought that lightning had struck near the house. Fortunately, my 14-year-old son wasn’t sleeping in his room, but in another room. That saved him from getting hurt badly. We thank God that it ended this way. We had ourselves a big miracle.”

Rescue workers and local police officers who arrived on the scene also described the turn of events as a “miracle.” In the house at the time of the rocket strike were the mother, Janet, her sons Hana and Tareq, and her daughter, Veronica. They were all taken to the hospital in Nahariya for treatment.

“There wasn’t any advanced warning and no siren sounded,” said one of the neighbors. “This could have ended in a terrible disaster.”

Residents of neighboring communities also voiced their concern at the development. Initially, there was a ban on reporting that a rocket had fallen in the village, producing a wave of rumors in the area that onlyexacerbated people’s anxiety. “We didn’t hear any explosion, but we did hear on the news that there was a rocket attack, and that’s really

unnerving mainly because there are a lot of children here,” said Uri Arnon of the nearby Kibbutz Beit Haemek in the western Galilee.

Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Musawi said yesterday that Hezbollah had no connection to the Katyusha rocket fire.

The Lebanese army announced the launchers had been set up in a field near Huniya, to the south of Tyre.

“An unknown perpetrator with suspicious motives fired two rockets from the area that lies between southern Lebanon and south of Tyre,” noted the Lebanese army statement. “One of them landed inside Lebanese land and the other fell near the border.” The Lebanese army announced that the IDF had fired eight rockets in response, all of which landed south of Tyre.

The southern border wasn’t quiet over the weekend either. Three Kassam rockets were fired towards Ashkelon, Sderot and Kibbutz Haar HaNegev. No one was killed or injured. However, an entire population of more than 50,000 people ran for the nearest shelter or safe room when the sirens went off throughout the southern region of Israel.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com