A missile fired by terrorists in Gaza hit a religious school in the southern Israel town of Sderot last night, narrowly missing students.
The missile broke several windows and the impact left a large hole in the yeshiva’s wall, strewing glass and rubble through the street, though miraculously there were no casualties or injuries.
Had the missile hit the yeshiva a few minutes earlier, the story could have been very different, as students still filled the hall where the missile hit.
The head rabbi of the yeshiva, Shlomo Binyamin, told Israel’s Channel 12 News: “It was a miracle…just 10 minutes earlier there had been 15 students saying the evening prayer in the room”.
The rocket was the second to be shot from Gaza on Thursday, though the first was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system.
The rocket attacks from Gaza on the south of Israel follow the IDF’s decision on Wednesday to impose a full naval closure of the Gaza Strip, not allowing Palestinian fishermen access to the sea.
This decision is in response to the wave of arson and explosive attacks being launched from the Strip over the border, causing numerous fires in southern Israel throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.
The rising tensions near the Gaza border threaten to undo the ceasefire brokered between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers following the first weekend in May, where nearly 700 rockets were fired at Israel – the worst cross-border violence since the 2014 Gaza conflict.
