An eerie quiet interrupted by rockets, Iron Dome

Roads were empty, shops were shuttered. The only sounds to be heard were rockets being fired or intercepted, and dogs barking. You could hear a pin drop. For the second day in a row, southern Israel was at a standstill, with thousands of civilians staying home, close to shelters, as rockets pounded the region. Over 400 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward southern and central Israel, 200 on Wednesday alone.

With the escalation in violence, the IDF Home Front Command released directives prohibiting schools from opening and prohibiting nonessential work.

Driving around the South, it was clear that the residents had listened to the instructions.

Maj. Yarden Shukrun, the Home Front Command officer in charge of the Southern District, told The Jerusalem Post that the directives have to be followed in order to save lives.

“If we know that there is a region where there is a higher risk of rocket fire, that’s where we will place our restrictions, which are always given for the following 24 hours,” she said. “But things can change in an instant.”

Sderot, population 26,455, sits on the front lines. It has been hit by thousands of rockets over the past 18 years, and has shelters every few meters, be it a bomb shelter or a bus stop shelter.

Nevertheless, Shukrun told the Post, “we don’t have shelters everywhere. If you are driving and there are sirens, you need to leave your car and get down on the road and cover your head. In most cases, when people follow the directives, most people escape with minor injuries, if anything at all.”

Driving around the city, one could see that all parks were abandoned, including

Baird Park, named after Canada’s former foreign minister John Baird. People were unwilling to chance having to find shelter in the 15 seconds they have after a warning before a rocket strikes, preferring instead to stay home.

The residents of Sderot are no strangers to rocket fire, and the majority of homes in the city have bomb shelters to run to if a siren goes off.

Outside the main police station

are hundreds of rockets that impacted the city. Next to that same police station is a popular hummus restaurant, Hahummus shel Tehina, usually jam-packed – especially when rockets are being fired from the Strip – when dozens of journalists come for a quick bite before going back to the field to film another live rocket falling.

But Wednesday it was empty, the doors locked. They weren’t taking any risks. Down the road another restaurant was open, serving journalists and soldiers deployed to the area.

Shukrun told the Post that “even though some people do open their places of business, it endangers lives.” As such, she said, police can be sent to fine and close businesses that are open.

Southern District Home Front Command officer Lt. Omer Mussan told the Post that the “lifesaving directives” have saved countless lives during a number of violent rounds between Gaza and Israel.

“A person acting on the instructions – whether they are in an open area or in a protected area – will significantly reduce the chance of being injured,” she said, stressing that if you follow the directives, “you will be saved!” •