Two killed in rocket strikes on Haifa; city comes under repeated fire

The IDF believes that unless the pace of the army's anti-Hezbollah operations in Lebanon is quickened, the Shi'ite group will maintain the capability to lob Katyushas into northern Israel continuously for one month.

Earlier Sunday, Defense Minister Amir Peretz told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hezbollah operatives have launched close to 2,200 rockets, half of which have struck Israeli towns in the north.

The IDF's chief of military intelligence, Amos Yadlin, told reporters that a similar number of rockets have been destroyed as a result of IDF raids.

Prior to the outbreak of hostilities, Israeli estimates placed the number of rockets and missiles in Hezbollah's arsenal at between 10,000 and 12,000.

Two people were killed and several others were wounded as ten Katyusha rockets slammed into Haifa and its suburbs Sunday morning.

Haifa resident Shimon Glickblich, 60, was killed in Haifa when rocket shrapnel hit his vehicle as he was driving along a main road in Haifa. Habib Ouad, 48, from the western Galilee, was killed when a rocket hit a carpentry shop in a suburb of Haifa.

Eleven others were hurt in the attack on Haifa, one of them seriously, one moderately, and the rest sustained light wounds.

"The scenes were horrific. There were wounded people on the road and there was a wounded person in the building too. There was terrible destruction," said factory worker Keren Hagigi at an industrial zone in Haifa hit by Hezbollah rockets.

Haifa came under repeated rocket fire throughout the day, and one rocket made a direct hit on a house in the city. The attack set the gas cylinders in the building alight, Channel 10 reported.

Five people were lightly wounded in the strike, and five others were treated for shock. Initial fears that some people were trapped in the building proved to be unsubstantiated.

Rockets also struck Carmiel, Acre, Tiberias and Kiryat Shmona on Sunday afternoon.

French FM forced to take cover
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy had to take cover under a stairway in Haifa when the sirens sounded Sunday.

A French embassy spokeswoman said Douste-Blazy was in a convoy of vehicles about to leave the northern city when the sirens went off.

Douste-Blazy's security guards decided to get off the road and entered a residential building as a precaution before the all-clear was given, she said.

"The delegation entered a residential building and stayed under a stairway. They then left the building," she said.

Douste-Blazy is visiting the region as diplomatic efforts to end Israel's war with the Lebanese guerrilla group intensify.

Earlier Sunday, one person was lightly wounded in a Katyusha rocket strike on Carmiel. Three rockets were also fired at the Upper Galilee. Sirens sounded in Acre, and as far south as Zichron Ya'akov and Binyamina, but were later said to be false alarms.

Some 17 people were wounded Saturday, two of them seriously, as waves of Katyusha strikes - more than 160 rockets - struck targets across the north of Israel.

On Saturday evening, a barrage of rockets landed in Safed, wounding four members of the same family, one of them seriously. Also Saturday evening, rockets hit Nahariya and Carmiel, seriously wounding a Carmiel resident. In a rocket strike earlier in the day, two Carmiel residents were hurt, one moderately and the other lightly, in direct hits on their homes.

One person sustained moderate wounds and three others were lightly hurt as 54 Katyusha rockets landed in Nahariya.

In Israel's northernmost city of Kiryat Shmona, six people were lightly injured as approximately 26 rockets landed in and around the city.

Rockets also landed in Safed, Rosh Pina, Ma'alot, the Golan Heights, and the northern Galilee panhandle. Six rockets landed in open areas in Haifa. Alerts were sounded in Acre, Tiberias, and several northern towns and villages to warn residents of possible rocket strikes.

Four people suffered moderate wounds and 12 were lightly hurt by rocket attacks in Haifa on Friday. After a reprieve of nearly a day, Hezbollah renewed its attacks, firing ten rockets into the northern city and its suburbs in two waves. The wounded were taken to Rambam Medical Center, Carmel Medical Center and Bnei Zion Medical Center (Rothschild) for treatment.

Most of the wounded were hurt when a rocket slammed into a central post office branch. Another rocket hit a residential building. No one was in the apartment that was hit in the strike, and no injuries were reported. A third rocket hit a parked car in the city. Shortly after the rocket strike, municipality workers began clearing the rubble.

Hezbollah also fired rockets Friday at the Galilee, where two people were hurt. One person was lightly wounded in Yesod Hama'aleh from rocket shrapnel, and a Rosh Pina resident was very lightly hurt in a strike. Two houses were damaged in the Western Galilee, near Ma'alot. Rockets hit two empty homes in Nahariya, causing no injuries. Rockets also landed in open areas near Safed and Kiryat Shmona, Tiberias, and in the vicinity of Carmiel.

Eli Ashkenazi, Yuval Azoulay, Amos Harel, Yoav Stern, Yossi Melman, and Agencies contributed to this story.