Sderot Israel: Life Under Code Red

Residents in Sderot, Israel say a new cease-fire will not bring comfort.

ByABC News
February 12, 2009, 10:49 AM

SDEROT, Israel, June 20, 2008 — -- Out of the thousands of homemade Qassam rockets that have been launched from Palestinian positions in the Gaza Strip, 13-year-old Raziel Sason, of Sderot, Israel, says he can remember one in particular.

Two years ago, Raziel and a friend followed the smoke to find a house struck by a Qassam, a crude bomb that became prevalent after the Palestinian uprising in 2000.

"We walked downstairs," Raziel said, "and we saw two legs … two legs lying there on the ground with sandals still on."

The two victims in this attack were young cousins, 2 and 4 years old. "There was nothing we could do," Raziel said. "We left, terrified and shaking, with prickles all up our arms."

That night, Raziel and the entire Sason family all slept together in their living room on mattresses on the floor.

And they have slept there every single night since.

Despite the cease-fire between Hamas and Israel that began Thursday, and the promise that residents might enjoy a respite from the attacks, the Sason family says they will still sleep in their living room.

"It will never stop," Raziel said. "I know it won't."

Raziel's older brother Rafi even built a closet inside the living room to serve as a makeshift bomb shelter. Raziel started sleeping inside the closet, a few feet from his family.

Every morning, they all stack up their sleeping pads behind the couch.

"Living in the shelter is like living in a jail," his mother, Shula, said. "I hate seeing my son in there. It's hot, the heat is choking. He's a boy. He doesn't need to feel like he's in jail."

After eight months, Raziel has finally left the living room shelter. "Now he sleeps out here," his mother said, pointing to an area on the living room floor just outside the shelter.

Raziel is not the only traumatized member of his family. Another brother, Aviran, says he was on the second floor of his school building when there was a code-red three years ago. "A rocket fell right inside the classroom," he said. "There was nowhere to hide."

The Qassam was headed right towards Aviran, who was standing in the doorway. At the last second, the rocket veered towards the chalkboard, away from him. "It was a miracle," he said, even though he spent the night in the hospital.

A therapist came to the Sason house once a week, teaching the children breathing exercises and how to cope with severe stress.

Shula said that for her children, the therapy helped. "But it would have helped more if the rockets had stopped," she said.