Rocket fire defines daily life in southern Israeli community

SDEROT, Israel - Few residents of the Israeli town of Sderot are on the streets these days. They prefer to sit out the war in safer parts of the country or barricade themselves at home as Palestinian rockets keep coming despite Israel's devastating military offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers.

One mile outside Gaza, Sderot was for years the top target of Palestinian rocket fire.

Its residents have long demanded a military campaign to wipe out Gaza rocket squads, saying the current disruption of their lives is a small price to pay if the war brings what they long for: the ability to walk outside without hearing the dreaded rocket alert.

Maxim Ben-Zikri runs one of the few thriving businesses in the town of 24,000 people: His Alum Mondial window business specializes in fixing houses that have been damaged by rocket fire.

"I have work all the time, but that doesn't make me happy," he says.

He used to fix windows in Jewish settlements in Gaza before Israel pulled out of the seaside strip that is home to 1.4 million Palestinians in 2005. Now that Gaza militants have taken over those former settlements and moved closer to Israel, he has his hands full repairing windows in Israeli border communities.

After eight years of rocket barrages from Gaza, the people of Sderot have the drill down: The Code Red alert warning of incoming rocket fire sends them rushing into one of the many safe rooms scattered across the town.

For taxi driver Zion Asulin, that meant he had just seconds to pull his van to the side of a road Tuesday and shepherd his eight passengers to safety. He barely managed to hustle inside a safe room before a rocket struck a few yards away from his taxi, blowing out the windows.

The rockets that usually land in Sderot are crude projectiles manufactured in Gaza. But they can maim or kill, and when they land close, they set off a terrifying blast.

At a health center near the site where Asulin parked his taxi, the explosion left several people in tears, while others were instantly on their cellphones, dialing loved ones.

"We've been in this situation for eight years, but now it's worse," says Rosette Gozlan, who has spent 45 of her 62 years in Sderot. "We pray it will end."

Albert el-Harrat came to Sderot 47 years ago.

"We don't want to attack civilians. We want to attack the Hamas leaders who order people to attack (our) civilians," he says.

El-Harrat doesn't have a safe room at his house: "I live on miracles," he shrugs.