Rocket Attacks Toward Israel

As of October 7, 2010 there have been 165 rockets fired at Israel this year, including a Qassam rocket which was fired October 6th and a mortar launched on Friday (October 1st) from Gaza which landed in the Eshkol Regional Council. The monthly breakdown for 2010 is as follows: 

2010 Jan Feb Mar Apr May
Qassam 16 6 24 5 11
Mortars 11 0 5 7 3
Grads 0 0 0 0 0
Total 27 6 29 12 14

Jun Jul Aug Sep Total
Qassam 15 9 6 14 106
Mortars 1 1 7 15 50
Grads 0 6 0 1 7
Total 16 16 13 30 163

Today, there are over 950,000 Israelis living within range of rocket, mortar and grad attacks, with the highest population in Be’er Sheva, where approximately 531,000 civilians have 60 seconds to find shelter in case of an attack. 

The map below indicates how much time people have to take cover given the distance the rocket travels. Those living in the 10 kilometer range have 15 seconds to find safety once the alarm sounds, those in the 20 km range have 30 seconds, 30 km – 45 seconds,  and 40 km a minute. Operation Cast Lead was initiated to reduce the number of rocket attacks against the inhabitants of southern Israel and was highly successful in its goal. 

 

Population Figures (numbers from 2007): 

  • Ashkelon – 108,900
  • Ashdod – 207,000
  • Yavne – 32,200
  • Gadera – 17,700
  • Kiryat Malachi – 19,600
  • Kiryat Gat – 7,800
  • Sderot – 19,300
  • Be’er Sheva – 531, 000
  • Ofakim – 24,700
  • Netivot – 25,600

Each Projectile, whether a Qassam, a mortar or a Grad can reach a wide range of distances. The map below marks the ranges of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. The grey area refers to mortar shells, the yellow to kassam rockets, the orange improvised kassam rockets and Grad missiles, the red area refers to the range of upgraded Grad missiles. 

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Since Hamas’ takeover in the Gaza Strip, rocket fire at Israel had risen exponentially, peaking in the period right before Operation Cast Lead with 3,278 rockets fired at Israel in 2008, and steeply decreasing since the end of the Operation in 2009: 

 

2009 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Qassams 271 43 54 5 3 3
Mortars 132 41 22 3 15 0
Grads 120 4 0 0 0 0
Total 523 88 76 8 18 3
 Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
1 1 14 6 13 7 421
2 6 3 3 0 2 229
0 0 0 0 0 0 124
3 7 17 9 13 9 774

At the current rate of rocket-fire at Israel, 2010 is set to be the  year with the least rocket attacks since 2002. As the chart below details, the year with the least rocket-fire was 2005 when 479 projectiles were fired at the state while only 163 projectiles have been fired at Israel this year (as of 6/10/2010): 

 

 


 
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Qassams 44 168 315 197 1071
Mortars 617 679 1213 281 57
Grads 0 0 0 1 2
Total 661 847 1528 479 1130

2007 2008 2009 2010  
Qassam 1071 1553 421 106  
Mortars 1357 1685 229 50  
Grads 5 40 124 7  
Total 2433 3278 774 163  
For all posts regarding rocket attacks click here.
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