Against the backdrop of ongoing rocket fire from Gaza, the Jewish Agency chairman Maj.-Gen. (res.) Doron Almog visited Israeli towns in the South Thursday as an expression of support.
On his visit, the chairman delivered immediate assistance from the Jewish Agency’s Fund for Victims of Terror to those wounded or whose homes were hit by the rocket fire.
Almog, who previously served as the IDF’s head of Southern Command, visited absorption centers housing new olim (immigrants) including Kalanit in Ashkelon, Ibim in Shaar Hanegev and Yeelim in Beersheba. Some of the immigrants recently arrived in Israel and are dealing with rocket fire for the first time.
He also met with senior citizens living in an Amigour housing facility in Beersheba and listened to their concerns regarding the security situation. Amigour, a Jewish Agency subsidiary, provides housing to 2,600 senior citizens in southern Israel alone, many of them Holocaust survivors.
"This is an expression of the unconditional love that the global Jewish community has for the State of Israel and its citizens both in times of normalcy and emergency," said Almog.
"This is an expression of the unconditional love that the global Jewish community has for the State of Israel and its citizens both in times of normalcy and emergency."
Doron Almog
What is the ongoing security situation in Israel?
Israel, especially southern towns bordering Gaza, has been on high alert for the last three days since launching Operation Shield and Arrow.
The IDF struck a number of senior terrorists in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist movement in airstrikes in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday morning, declaring the operation launch.
Schools are remaining closed across southern Israel on Thursday and Friday, the IDF's Home Front Command announced on Wednesday afternoon in a continuation of a series of restrictions placed due to the military's Operation Shield and Arrow.
The Home Front Command has directed residents of communities in southern Israel to stay near shelters and also banned any gatherings in open areas of over 10 people and gatherings in closed buildings of over 100 people.
The IDF by Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. had already struck over 100 targets of terror groups in Gaza, with a primary focus on Islamic Jihad.
Meanwhile, over 100 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza in under 24 hours. One person was killed and eight others were injured after an apartment building in Rehovot suffered a direct hit in a wave of rockets fired shortly after 6 p.m. on Thursday evening.
One person was killed after he was trapped under the rubble of the damaged building, and eight people received medical treatment on the scene after sustaining light injuries as a result of the direct missile hit. One of the injured is a woman in her 60s who is suffering from a head injury, United Hatzalah has confirmed.