Residents of the city of Be’er Sheva in southern Israel are living in fear of terrorist infiltrations following a series of attacks from the Gaza Strip. Anna (name changed), a Russian-speaking resident of the city, reported explosions in Be’er Sheva. “It’s definitely unsettling here. We’ve had constant shelling since 6:30 am. We can only stay in our apartments for 10 minutes before having to seek shelter again. It has calmed down a bit now, but people are very afraid of the terrorists. They’re worried about Hamas, not the rockets. It’s something we haven’t experienced in a long time. Someone said there were terrorists in the Neve Zeev area, and we heard an explosion and saw a column of smoke nearby. They said it might be grenades or rocket launchers because there was no air raid siren,” said the resident.
She noted that there are bomb shelters in the city, but hardly anyone uses them because they are “very dirty.” “There are bomb shelters, but many people don’t go down there. They sit on the stairs of the stairwell. The bunker has been closed for a long time, and it’s very dirty. I don’t know anything about the authorities’ instructions. I don’t speak Hebrew, so I can’t read official documents. They probably posted the locations of shelters and explained how to behave,” she added.
In the capital city of Jerusalem, the situation is relatively calm, although explosions can be heard. Anton, a Russian resident, reported, “Rockets are visible over Jerusalem, and explosions can be heard. The atmosphere is calm, and people are watching the war from their balconies and rooftops. There is no panic, even in the Arab quarter. There haven’t been any instructions yet, but sometimes sirens can be heard.”
On Saturday morning, October 7th, Palestinian radicals from the Gaza Strip launched rocket attacks on Israeli territory. Air raid sirens sounded in southern Israel, near the border with Gaza, as well as in the Tel Aviv area. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that terrorists had infiltrated Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip amid a massive shelling from the enclave.
The Israeli Defense Minister declared a state of emergency in the central part of the country and announced a mass call-up of reserves. The IDF has begun targeting locations in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier, the number of casualties from the attacks on Israel was reported.
