The Jerusalem Post

After barrage of rockets from Gaza, PM slammed for not visiting South

Gabbay: Instead of coming to visit, he’s sitting in his beautiful living room

- • By TAMARA ZIEVE

Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the residents of the South and listen to their feelings over the difficult weekend they experience­d in which close to 200 projectile­s were launched from the Gaza Strip toward the border communitie­s.

Four Israelis were wounded on Saturday when a projectile hit a home in Sderot. Another rocket struck a courtyard of a synagogue in the community.

“I call, from here on, the prime minister and the cabinet ministers to be with the residents, to go down to the South and hear the sounds of their hearts at the end of the most difficult week that has been here since Operation Protective Edge,” Davidi said.

“Our feelings about the cease-fire are very difficult. It is Hamas who decides whether to open fire or to cease fire and not the State of Israel,” he said.

Zionist Union Leader Avi Gabbay also visited Sderot and spoke with the chairman of Sderot’s youth council Dvir Sasi, who told him that his seven-year-old neighbor was screaming that he didn’t want do die. “This is what the prime minister would have heard if he had bothered to come,” Gabbay said.

“He hasn’t been in Sderot since April 9. How can it be that there have been 100 days of fires here and the prime minister hasn’t come? He has lost all connection with the public,” Gabbay said later in an interview on Army Radio on Sunday morning.

“Instead of coming to visit the residents of the south, he’s sitting in his beautiful living room,” he said.

Gabbay had earlier called for Netanyahu to be ousted for his management of the escalation with Gaza.

“This [rocket fire] is the result of four years of the security cabinet not making decisions,” Gabbay said at a Labor party meeting held at Kibbutz Be’eri in the south of Israel.

“The prime minister cares only about covering his own behind when the security cabinet convenes, so there has been no diplomatic, economic or strategic pressure applied to make the rocket fire stop. Nothing is being done, except waiting or rocket fire and then the army responding. The prime minister has failed to provide security to residents of the Gaza periphery, so the time has come for him to go,” Gabbay added.

A mother, father and their two teenage daughters were wounded by shrapnel when their home was hit by a rocket from Gaza on Saturday. All were evacuated by Magen David Adom to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.

Magen David Admon said a 14-year-old girl was lightly wounded in her legs, a 15-yearold girl was lightly wounded with injuries to her face from broken glass and a 52-year-old man was in moderate condition after sustaining a chest wound.

A video circulated by the medical center shows Aaron Buchris, the father of the family, lying in his hospital bed with dressings covering his forehead and check. He said that the family had been sitting in the lounge when the rocket struck their home.

“There was no siren. And suddenly the house exploded, glass flew all over them, they were all covered in blood and screaming and there was smoke everywhere. After a few minutes the neighbors came. I got shrapnel in my face, legs and my wife also was hurt in the head,” he said.

He described the scene: “Panic, screaming, a lot of blood – the TV and the aquarium exploded.”

Barzilai Medical Center spokeswoma­n Eilat Keidar told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday morning that the four were in light-to-moderate and stable condition, having all suffered shrapnel wounds to various parts of their bodies. The father was expected to have an operation this morning. It is not yet know when they will be released from hospital.

Agricultur­e and Rural Developmen­t Minister Uri Ariel visited the family’s house in Sderot on Sunday morning and sent his well wishes to the family. “I call from here to the prime minister to take serious steps and not to let Hamas dictate the agenda,” he said.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edlestein visited the home of the Buchris family, as well as the Rosenfeld family home, which was also harmed by projectile­s.

“Hamas must not be allowed to change the rules in the region. We must act decisively against the heads of the organizati­on, whose sole purpose is to harm us,” he said. “The solidarity between the residents here in Sderot is admirable, and it is even more evident in the difficult events we experience­d over the weekend. I thank Mayor Alon Davidi for the spirit and the support he and his team give to the residents.”

Later, Edelstein visited the Sderot Trauma Center, which was establishe­d in the city after Operation Protective Edge.

Education Minister Naftali Bennnett also visited Sderot, and said: “Residents of Sderot and the Gaza envelope are entitled to security like any citizen of the State of Israel. We will oppose any cease-fire that allows Hamas to rearm for another round. This is not a cease-fire, it is a free pass for more rounds.”

“The residents of Sderot and the surroundin­g area tell us: ‘We are prepared to take it if you solve the problem.’ Therefore, all kinds of temporary truces on behalf of Hamas are unacceptab­le to us. This is not the way. The way is only through force, only through a thorough treatment of Hamas,” Bennett concluded.

Anna Ahronheim and Gil Hoffman contribute­d to this report.

 ?? (Amir Cohen/Reuters) ?? AN ISRAELI stands outside a house in Sderot where a rocket fell on Saturday.
(Amir Cohen/Reuters) AN ISRAELI stands outside a house in Sderot where a rocket fell on Saturday.

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