The Hamas war against Israel: A Diary - March 2008

26-28 Mar 2008

Some 20 rockets and mortar shells were fired at southern Israel from Gaza on Wednesday, March 26. Two people were lightly wounded in Sderot and nine suffered from shock. Earlier, a rocket landed in the backyard of a home in a western Negev kibbutz, causing some damage to buildings. An Israeli was lightly wounded when Gaza gunmen fired at a group of farmers near Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, where a volunteer from Ecuador was killed by sniper fire in January.

A Kassam rocket exploded near a kibbutz nursery on Friday, 28 March, where toddlers aged one and half to two were playing in the yard. The children were taken to safety in a bomb shelter prior to impact. All the windows shattered, pictures fell from the walls and there was great panic. "We were very fortunate that none of the children were injured but they were very frightened. This is the reality they have to deal with," said the kibbutz nurse.

6-9 Mar 2008

A powerful roadside bomb was detonated near an IDF  jeep patrolling the border on the Israeli side of the security fence (6 March). Immediately after incident, Hamas terrorists opened fire in an attempt to disrupt rescue efforts and cause additional casualties. 
An IDF Bedouin tracker, seated in the front passenger seat, was killed instantly. His family has asked that his name not be made public.
St.-Sgt. Liran Banai, 20, of Ashkelon, critically wounded, died of his wounds in Beersheba's Soroka Medical Center (9 March).

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

1-4 Mar 2008

50 rockets were launched on Saturday (1 March), injuring 22 civilians in Sderot and Ashkelon, and causing severe damage to property.

- Haaretz report on Ashkelon: 'Even the youngest kids know things have changed'
- Haaretz report on Sderot: How one family was shattered

Early Saturday morning shortly arfter 5 am, four rockets struck Ashkelon, one of which scored a direct hit on a house. The three others hit a residential neighborhood. A woman and two children were lightly wounded and a number of others suffered shock in one of the rocket attacks. A car exploded in flames after being hit by another missile in the city.

On Saturday afternoon, three people were wounded when rockets hit the marina in Ashkelon, some 15 kilometers from the Gaza Strip.

Two soldiers were killed on Saturday in a military operation in the Gaza Strip, aimed at combating rocket fire at Israeli cities and settlements: St-Sgt Doron Asulin, 20, of Beersheba and St-Sgt Eran Dan-Gur, 20, of Jerusalem.

Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired 33 rockets at southern Israel on Sunday (2 March) - three of them GRAD missiles. One woman was wounded by a direct hit by a GRAD rocket on a house in Ashkelon. A man  was wounded by shrapnel when a Kassam hit a western Negev factory.
- Magen David Adom: "A miracle in Ashkelon"

Three GRAD rockets were fired at Ashkelon on Monday morning (3 March), one hitting a seven-story building and the second landing in a playground near a kindergarten, where dozens of children were beginning their day. 28 people were evacuated to the Barzilai Hospital, most of them suffering from shock.

A home in Sderot sustained heavy damage from a direct hit by a Kassam rocket early Tuesday morning (4 March). The couple were away at the time, having given in to their daughter's plea that they stay with relatives near Tel-Aviv.