Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende experienced what Israelis living in the country’s south go through every day when he had to flee to a bomb shelter because of Gazan rocket fire earlier today. Foreign Minister Brende had traveled to Ashkelon, 12 miles north of Gaza, when rockets fell directly on the city.
At the time of the rocket fire, Brende and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman were visiting the Barzilai Medical Center, where 16-year-old Yarin Levy, an Ashkelon native, was being treated for shrapnel wounds in his chest due to injuries from a previous rocket. Levy had been on his way home from a barbershop when the rocket and the ensuing shrapnel wounded him.
As the sirens blared, Liberman and Brende fled to a bomb shelter in the hospital, as a rocket hit nearby. The Barzilai Medical Center is highly susceptible to rocket attack, placing patients in jeopardy since they cannot be easily moved in and out of bomb shelters. In this case, however, no patients in the hospital were injured.
Later, Liberman loudly criticized Hamas and called for Israel to take greater measures against the Islamist terrorist organization. “Israeli children deserve to have a summer vacation just like children in the rest of the world,” he said. He also referenced the Palestinian unity government’s role in legitimizing Hamas and, as a result, allowing violence to escalate: “‘In the Gaza [disengagement] we gave [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas the keys to Gaza,’ said Liberman, pointing out that the result has been the thousands of rockets launched at Israel since that time.”
Brende followed Liberman’s statements and said that he wanted to stop suffering both in Israel and Gaza and that he is very concerned about the situation.
Liberman finished with a statement on his ultimate goals for Gaza as well as the need for Israel’s security: “There’s no argument, we want to ensure citizens’ security. We’re not trying to build towns there [in Gaza], we just want security.”