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School resumes in Israel despite rocket threat
By ARON HELLER,Associated Press Writer AP - 1 hour 31 minutes ago
SDEROT, Israel - Thousands of children in southern Israel returned to school Sunday for the first time in two weeks, braving the threat of Palestinian rocket attacks while the army pushed ahead with its offensive in the neighboring Gaza Strip.
Schools have been closed since Dec. 27, when Israel launched the operation to end years of Hamas rocket fire. With that threat diminishing, the military said Sunday that students could attend schools that are sufficiently fortified with a concrete roof and bomb shelters. So students and their parents returned _ hesitantly.
Chana Oved said she wanted to keep her 10-year-old son Daniel at home, but that after two weeks indoors, he was eager to get out and see his friends.
"I'm scared. I don't want him to go, but he insisted," the 48-year-old Sderot resident said as the boy dragged her into Haroeh Elementary School. "Usually, he doesn't like to go to school but this time he does."
Just a mile from the Gaza border, Sderot has frequently come under rocket fire _ four projectiles landed in the city on Sunday alone, including one near a school, the army said. There were no injuries on Sunday, but rockets over the years have killed eight residents, wounded hundreds and traumatized everyone.
Sderot's schools are all fortified. Haroeh has a concrete roof and bomb shelters, and its bus stop is protected by a concrete cover. On Sunday, soldiers went to the school to assist the students in case of a siren.
Oved was still worried, but was at least somewhat relieved that school would give her son a distraction. Both were injured by a rocket that landed on their home several years ago and Daniel has suffered from post-traumatic stress symptoms since.
"He's never been the same," she said.
Education Minister Yuli Tamir said students were returning only in protected areas of the south. She said she hoped school would provide structure and routine in a time of great stress and uncertainty for children.
In Sderot, however, attendance was sparse. City officials said about 2,300 students came to school _ a 60 percent turnout.
And in many other towns in southern Israel, schools remained closed. Rockets have struck several empty schools in the past two weeks. On Sunday, an empty kindergarten in the city of Ashdod was hit.
Schools in Gaza also have been shut. Some have been hit by Israeli airstrikes and Israel says school grounds have been used by militants as rocket and mortar launching sites. U.N.-run schools in the territory have been turned into shelters for residents fleeing the violence, which Gaza medical officials say has killed nearly 870 Palestinians. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed since the offensive was launched.
Leah Maman, a secretary at Haroeh school, brought her 12-year-old daughter Eden with her to work on Sunday because the school the girl usually attends, in a nearby village, is not fortified and remained closed.
Eden was eager to return. "I miss my friends," she said.
Other parents refused to send their kids back.
"The problem is not inside the schools, its getting there," said Mari Ochana, who kept her 16-year-old daughter at home. Residents in Sderot have just 15 seconds to find cover between the sound of air-raid sirens and the landing of the rocket.
"Those 15 seconds could be critical," Ochana said.
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