Tense Purim on Gaza front: 'The rockets will not ruin holiday for the children'
"Ceasefire" holding despite two rocket that were launched from coastal territory at Israel
By JPOST.COM STAFF, THE POSTIDF on Gaza border, March 13, 2014.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
A ceasefire that the Islamic Jihad announced on Thursday appeared to be holding despite two rockets that were fired from Gaza on Israel on Friday.At around 11 a.m. on Friday morning a rocket landed in Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council in an open area, the IDF confirmed. The Code Red rocket alert siren did not sound prior to the landing.On Friday evening, another rocket was fired from Gaza at southern Israel, according to Israel Radio.There was no damage or injury caused by the attacks. The relative quiet on Friday contrasted to the trading of blows between the Gazan militant groups and the IDF in previous days.Late Thursday night, Israel Air Force aircraft struck three targets in the northern Gaza Strip and four other targets in the southern part of the coastal enclave.The IAF strikes were in response to some 14 rockets that were fired from Gaza to Israel on Thursday after the Islamic Jihad claimed that Egypt had brokered a ceasefire to end two days of hostilities that has seen nearly 70 rockets fall in the South.Amid the tense atmosphere, the regional municipalities bordering Gaza decided not to cancel schools and to go ahead with planned Purim celebrations.Haim Yalin, the head of the Eshkol Regional Municipality, told Army Radio on Friday that the residents in his area did not desire to see the tensions escalate as they did prior to Operation Pillar of Defense in 2013. "We want a daily routine and not an emergency routine; we want the quiet that we have had here over the last year and a quarter," he said.
"The children are dressed up for Purim and have waited for the holiday so much, we do not want the holiday to be ruined for them, and we won't allow the rockets to ruin their holiday," Yalin added. Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.
