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| Gaza war: Ashkelon's weary residents resigned to more violence | Gaza war: Ashkelon's weary residents resigned to more violence |
| (5 months later) | |
| In the Israeli seaside city of Ashkelon, nine miles north of Gaza, empty buses trundle past deserted playgrounds. Beachfront cafes and restaurants are shuttered. The marina is full of boats, but none are manned. | In the Israeli seaside city of Ashkelon, nine miles north of Gaza, empty buses trundle past deserted playgrounds. Beachfront cafes and restaurants are shuttered. The marina is full of boats, but none are manned. |
| The roads are clear, and car parks empty. All schools and kindergartens in the city have been closed for a week. Israeli gunboats are visible out at sea. Assaf Sade has kept open his clothes shop but there have been few customers. "The city is very quiet. People are not walking on the streets, no one is going out at night," he says. | The roads are clear, and car parks empty. All schools and kindergartens in the city have been closed for a week. Israeli gunboats are visible out at sea. Assaf Sade has kept open his clothes shop but there have been few customers. "The city is very quiet. People are not walking on the streets, no one is going out at night," he says. |
| He views the war on his doorstep with weary resignation imbued with cynicism. "We're used to this. We're just waiting for the end of this round. They'll find a way to stop the violence, but then it will come again. History tells us we're stuck in an endless cycle." | He views the war on his doorstep with weary resignation imbued with cynicism. "We're used to this. We're just waiting for the end of this round. They'll find a way to stop the violence, but then it will come again. History tells us we're stuck in an endless cycle." |
| More than 1,200 rockets have been fired from Gaza since Operation Pillar of Defence began last Wednesday. In Ashkelon, sirens are activated day or night when a missile is detected heading for the city. | More than 1,200 rockets have been fired from Gaza since Operation Pillar of Defence began last Wednesday. In Ashkelon, sirens are activated day or night when a missile is detected heading for the city. |
| Residents have 30 seconds to get to a bomb shelter or safe room. If none is nearby, they are instructed to rush to a stairwell or lie flat on the ground with their hands over their heads. It has become a well-practised routine since the first rocket from Gaza hit Ashkelon in 2006. | Residents have 30 seconds to get to a bomb shelter or safe room. If none is nearby, they are instructed to rush to a stairwell or lie flat on the ground with their hands over their heads. It has become a well-practised routine since the first rocket from Gaza hit Ashkelon in 2006. |
| The city of 130,000 people has 145 public bomb shelters, one per 900 residents. Fifty per cent of Ashkelon's homes have purpose-built safe rooms. An Iron Dome anti-missile defence system is deployed to intercept rockets aimed at the city. Perhaps as a result of its successes, in the past week only two Ashkelon residents have been injured, neither seriously, according to Yossi Greenfield, the city's head of security. | The city of 130,000 people has 145 public bomb shelters, one per 900 residents. Fifty per cent of Ashkelon's homes have purpose-built safe rooms. An Iron Dome anti-missile defence system is deployed to intercept rockets aimed at the city. Perhaps as a result of its successes, in the past week only two Ashkelon residents have been injured, neither seriously, according to Yossi Greenfield, the city's head of security. |
| He has been based round the clock in an underground bunker in which the city council is replicated in miniature. In what he calls the "war room", he listens to a constant stream of radio messages warning of incoming rockets. | He has been based round the clock in an underground bunker in which the city council is replicated in miniature. In what he calls the "war room", he listens to a constant stream of radio messages warning of incoming rockets. |
| In a nearby shopping mall, Shani Ben Alon has ventured out with her two toddlers for the first time in a week. "It's very very difficult for the children to be in the house all day. They've had enough TV," she says. Normally they would be in kindergarten and she would be at work in a bakery. "The city is like a cemetery." | In a nearby shopping mall, Shani Ben Alon has ventured out with her two toddlers for the first time in a week. "It's very very difficult for the children to be in the house all day. They've had enough TV," she says. Normally they would be in kindergarten and she would be at work in a bakery. "The city is like a cemetery." |
| She says she approves of the military offensive aimed at stopping rocket fire. "[The prime minister, Binyamin] Netanyahu is doing the right thing, I trust him very much. But if he stops now, we will have the same thing in a month. It hurts me very much to say this, because we will lose a lot of soldiers, but I think this time we have to go to the end." | She says she approves of the military offensive aimed at stopping rocket fire. "[The prime minister, Binyamin] Netanyahu is doing the right thing, I trust him very much. But if he stops now, we will have the same thing in a month. It hurts me very much to say this, because we will lose a lot of soldiers, but I think this time we have to go to the end." |
| Preparations for "going to the end" – ground invasion of Gaza – are advanced, with a heavy presence of called-up reservist troops around the coastal strip's borders. But against a background of ceasefire talks in Cairo, there is little sense of urgency among soldiers milling about and ordering cappucinos and Cokes at a petrol station cafe close to the northern tip of Gaza. | Preparations for "going to the end" – ground invasion of Gaza – are advanced, with a heavy presence of called-up reservist troops around the coastal strip's borders. But against a background of ceasefire talks in Cairo, there is little sense of urgency among soldiers milling about and ordering cappucinos and Cokes at a petrol station cafe close to the northern tip of Gaza. |
| They describe days of waiting, punctuated by short periods of training. A group of six arrive in a Humvee on a mission to fetch fuel to make coffee back at their base. Ori, 33, who was called up a week ago, says he hopes the war will end without troops going into Gaza. "I'd be very happy to go back to my life and my family." | They describe days of waiting, punctuated by short periods of training. A group of six arrive in a Humvee on a mission to fetch fuel to make coffee back at their base. Ori, 33, who was called up a week ago, says he hopes the war will end without troops going into Gaza. "I'd be very happy to go back to my life and my family." |
| According to a poll in Haaretz, 84% of Israelis support the offensive but only 30% back a ground campaign. Without a breakthrough on a truce or with a significant development, opinion could harden. On Tuesday a fourth Israeli died, after being injured in an earlier rocket attack. A long-range rocket landed near Jerusalem, triggering sirens across the city. | According to a poll in Haaretz, 84% of Israelis support the offensive but only 30% back a ground campaign. Without a breakthrough on a truce or with a significant development, opinion could harden. On Tuesday a fourth Israeli died, after being injured in an earlier rocket attack. A long-range rocket landed near Jerusalem, triggering sirens across the city. |
| In the Ashkelon clothes shop, Sade recalls the last time Israeli troops went into Gaza in a large-scale invasion, in Operation Cast Lead almost four years ago. He was one of them. "It was a disaster then, and it will be a disaster this time," he says, warning that a mounting death toll on both sides would be the inevitable outcome. | In the Ashkelon clothes shop, Sade recalls the last time Israeli troops went into Gaza in a large-scale invasion, in Operation Cast Lead almost four years ago. He was one of them. "It was a disaster then, and it will be a disaster this time," he says, warning that a mounting death toll on both sides would be the inevitable outcome. |
| "People here don't want war, and neither do the people of Gaza. But it's a problem of leadership. The leaders on both sides believe the language of war is more meaningful than the language of peace." | "People here don't want war, and neither do the people of Gaza. But it's a problem of leadership. The leaders on both sides believe the language of war is more meaningful than the language of peace." |
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