Residents Doubt That Rocket Fire Can Be Stopped

With the sun shining and the air crisp and cool, many Israelis strolled through the streets here Sunday, or waited for the bus out in the open, beyond the confines of the heavily reinforced shelters that line the sidewalks.

When the alert went off around midday, waitresses and diners at a restaurant dutifully trudged into the kitchen, away from the storefront windows. "Third time today," one waitress said impatiently as she counted down the seconds until she could leave.

And yet, the threat is real. On Sunday morning, an advanced Qassam tore through the modest, white-washed Sderot home of a woman in her 70s. The woman was in her bedroom. The rocket devastated her living room, flinging large chunks of concrete on the floor, smashing furniture and leaving black scars of soot on the remaining walls.

The woman was treated for shock and smoke inhalation but was otherwise uninjured, neighbors and officials said.

"It's no life here," said a neighbor, Mary Ohana, 60.

Ohana said she hopes that Israel and the Palestinians can learn to live together without fighting each other. But until then, she said, an Israeli military operation is the only solution, because she believes it will force Hamas to agree to a long-term truce.

"Two weeks ago I started taking a course in Arabic. The teacher asked me why. I said, 'I hope there will be peace, and I want to be able to talk to my neighbors in Gaza.' Then this happened," she said. "Really, it should have happened a long time ago. But I'm glad it's happening now."