Photo Credit: Yonatan Sindel / Flash 90
Iron Dome anti-missile defense battery set up in the southern Israeli city of Sderot fires an intercepting missile.

Four years after the end of Operation Protective Edge – Israel’s counter terror war with Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization and its allied terror groups – a new conflict may be approaching.

Between January 1 and December 31, 2018, Gaza terrorists fired 1,000 rockets and mortar shells into Israel. That doesn’t include the projectiles that were launched and didn’t make it.

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Of the rockets that reached Israeli territory, 250 of the missiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile aerial defense system, and 45 projectiles landed in urban areas, according to data released by the IDF on Sunday.

The southern Israeli city of Sderot — struck most often by rocket attacks — is located less than a mile from Gaza and continued to be a major target in 2018.

Some of the children’s playgrounds in Sderot are actually bomb shelters, where children can be protected from sudden rocket attacks, because there is only a 15-second window of time within which to reach safety before a missile or mortar shell lands in the community. Every school and bus stop in Sderot is also fortified against rocket attacks.

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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.