If just one rocket got in, people die SPECIAL DESPATCH
I HAD just sent my report about rockets launched by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, targeting Israeli civilians, and was driving from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
The sirens started. Israelis know only too well what to do: run to the nearest air raid shelter. On the motorway that’s not an option.
I couldn’t stay in my car as it might explode. Instead, the advice is to take the brace position on the ground.
Israel has had rocket attacks from Gaza before, all too often.This time it’s different.
The terrorists are targeting – and hitting – Tel Aviv. That is a symbolic, massive escalation for Hamas – and it caused panic.
Lying on the motorway I looked up. Large orange balls of fire were raining down on me.
A sonic boom followed, thank goodness.That is Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system which intercepts and blows up rockets before they can hit their targets.
Each boom shook the living daylights out of everyone. Surely I was a sitting duck?
As things went quiet I jumped into my car. Moments later the alarms sounded again. It was like a horror movie: nowhere to run and destruction looming.
My three children were phoning me constantly in a panic.They were with their father in our air raid shelter.
I kept thinking there was nothing to stop one of these rockets from landing on me. I put my faith in the Iron Dome.
The system is good, but it only takes one rocket to make it through for people to die.
Messages from friends and colleagues told me a woman in her 50s was killed and that there had been 130 rockets launched on us in Tel Aviv alone.
As the sirens wailed again, I ran to a building where I found an internal stairwell for refuge.
A dozen others had sought shelter in it, too.
One of the men who lived there offered us drinks. Israelis, they said, are sadly used to this.
They try to take it in their stride, but their fear is real.
Despite Israel’s massive investment in defensive technology, everyone knows: if it can’t keep up with the barrage, their lives are at risk.