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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israel evacuates rocket-hit town |
| 2006-08-09 |
| TERRIFIED and exhausted residents of Kiryat Shmona were fleeing today from the daily rain of Hezbollah rockets in the first evacuation of an entire town since the creation of Israel. The sirens went off again this morning as two more Katyusha rockets came crashing down into the northern Israeli town, which lies around five kilometres from the Lebanese border. "Get us out of this hell," an angry Israeli man told Mayor Haim Barvivai, as the remaining residents scrambled to be included in the evacuation plans. Of the town's 24,000 inhabitants, "around 15,000 have already fled to the south, in hotels, in kibbutz or found refuge with their families," Mr Barvivai told AFP. "Most of the 9000 residents who are still here want to leave," he added. Those wishing to be evacuated were invited to inform the authorities of their desire following Israel's announcement that it would widen its ground offensive in southern Lebanon. "But we lack the means" to accommodate everybody, "and we had to make decisions," said the mayor. Shimrit, clutching her 18-month-old boy against her bosom, said: "I cried and I cried and I cried. I don't want to stay here. The children cannot stay in the shelter any longer. The distressed 25-year-old asked why she and her two children were not included in the list of 500 slated for evacuation in the next batch. Miriam, who has two children and is pregnant with a third, was also denied a place on the coveted list. The 500 residents did make the list were evacuated overnight and bused to the coastal city of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv. They will be temporarily housed on an army base. Some of those of had decided to stick it out when Hezbollah started firing rockets in the area four weeks ago are now desperate to find shelter elsewhere in Israel as the daily barrage of Katyusha shows no sign of receding. Esther, 57, is in an almost constant state of panic. Shortly before the buses carrying the evacuees left the town, three rockets ploughed into a nearby neighbourhood. She ran to her building's shelter. "It's dirty here; there are rats here," she said, her entire body shaking in fear. This usually peaceful community at the foot of the Golan Heights has been engulfed in violence since Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on the border on July 12. Israel responded by launching its largest military offensive since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, drawing a rain of rocket fire from the well-armed Shiite guerrilla group. But Kiryat Shmona residents remained unanimous in rejecting a ceasefire with the fundamentalist militia. "Hezbollah terrorists have been firing at us for three years," Esther explained. "We have to go all the way now and wipe them out. Otherwise, all this will never stop." |
| Posted by:tipper |