UPDATE At least 66 wounded in Kassam attack near Zikim military base

by merrie | September 10, 2007 at 08:01 pm

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This is an update on the Kassam rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on the military base at approximately 1:30 a.m

The severity of wounds received by the troops varied. At least 30 soldiers were wounded from the impact of the explosion or by shrapnel; the remainder was suffering from shock. The victims include both male and female soldiers.

All of the wounded were evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer. By 6 a.m., 21 of the soldiers evacuated to hospital overnight were discharged.

merrie, good and timely follow-up. Thanks!

PEP, thanks for the flag. I can't imagine living with the constant threat of being bombed, from morning

to night. Really sad.

merrie, thanks for the update - it seems that Islamic Jihad has revamepd the kassam rocket to be much more deadly. A very scary development.

the rockets used by the terrorist groups have improved substantially both in quantity and
quality, and one of the greatest Israeli fears is that the technology will proliferate further. Though the Qassam
rockets have proven little more than a nuisance, much larger and longer-ranged Katyusha rockets like those used by
Hezbollah in Lebanon have begun to appear in the Gaza Strip as well. The first of these was launched by Islamic
Jihad on 28 March 2006 and additional Katyushas are believed to have been smuggled into the region across the
border with Egypt or by ship. Though none of the Katyusha rockets launched from Gaza have done any damage so far,
the spread of these far more capable weapons into the Gaza Strip poses a serious threat to southern Israel.

Areas of Israel currently or potentially threatened by Hezbollah and Hamas rockets

Even so, the areas attacked in rocket strikes from Lebanon and Gaza thus far are relatively sparsely populated. Of
even greater concern is the possibility of rockets spreading to the West Bank. Since the majority of Israelis live
in the central region of the country around Tel Aviv, even short-ranged Qassam and Katyusha rockets launched from
the West Bank could threaten a large portion of Israel's population and industry. No rockets are believed to have
been fired from the West Bank so far, but an Israeli raid on the town on Nablus in December 2005 discovered an
explosives laboratory where Qassam rockets were being built. It is also known that Palestinians are attempting to
smuggle rockets or their components into the West Bank as quickly as possible to launch a new wave of strikes.

Sth Pacific,

Very informative comment. The proliferation of ruineous weapons in Gaza puts in question the withdrawal from Gaza, from a military perspective at least.

Perhaps the fundamental concern is where these higher power weapons are coming from. My hunch is like with Hezbollah in Lebanon, they are coming from Iran.

First Flagged at 8:39 PM, Sep 10, 2007 by PEP

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UPDATE At least 66 wounded in Kassam attack near Zikim military base

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