In Haifa, a Scene of Death and Destruction
By GREG MYRE
Published: July 16, 2006
HAIFA, Israel, July 16 — The train platform, slick with blood and littered with chunks of fallen roof, was the grim evidence confirming a prediction that Israeli security chiefs had made for years. Hezbollah, they said, had acquired larger, more powerful rockets that could soar over Israel’s thinly populated north and wreak havoc on major cities.
This morning, one of those rockets punched through the roof of a huge train maintenance hangar near the Mediterranean coast in the port city of Haifa, killing eight workers and wounding more than 20.
Twisted metal dangled from above and debris covered the site where train company employees had just arrived for the beginning of the Israeli workweek. Two trains were charred with their windows blown out.
Sliman Halaby, a railway worker, saw the missile strike and raced to help. “I saw the people spread out all over” the platform, he said.
“I talked to them so they would not panic or lose consciousness,” he told Israeli radio. “Then I ran to the entrance because I saw the ambulances were having trouble reaching the gate.”
Hezbollah has been shooting rockets at northern Israel on and off for some two decades, but today’s attack was unprecedented on two counts. It was the deadliest Hezbollah rocket attack to date and the first time the Lebanese Shiite group fired on Israel with a rocket that can carry more than 100 pounds of explosives, capable of inflicting far more damage than the Katyusha rockets that are typically used, according to the Israeli military.
Israel said it was a Fajr-3 rocket that can travel up to 30 miles, while Hezbollah said it fired Raad-2 and Raad-3 rockets. Altogether, 10 of the rockets hit in or near Haifa.
While relatives of the dead and injured wailed with grief at the emergency room of the city’s Rambam Medical Center, many Israelis called on their government to strike even harder at Hezbollah.
“We should wipe Hezbollah off the map without pity and without listening to the criticism from the rest of the world,” said Sarah Benchetrit, 57, who was at the hospital with her husband, who had come for a checkup.
Mrs. Benchetrit, who moved to Israel 22 years ago from New Jersey, said today’s attack was even more unnerving than those in the 1991 Persian Gulf war, when Iraq fired dozens of Scud missiles into Israel.
In those attacks, military radar detected the incoming missiles and issued urgent warnings that gave Israelis a minute or more to take cover. No such warning came today, though Israel has set up three Patriot antimissile batteries in Haifa.
“Our homes and families are being attacked and there is no way we will let this continue,” said Israel’s defense minister, Amir Peretz, who visited Haifa after the attack.
Mr. Peretz said that Hezbollah was firing its rockets from civilian areas, and that Israel would not hesitate to strike at such sites.
“Any source of fire that is identified will be dealt with,” Mr. Peretz said.
The fighting began with a cross-border raid by Hezbollah on Wednesday in which the group captured two Israeli soldiers. Hezbollah has fired around 500 rockets into northern Israel in the past five days, and most of the towns are now deserted.
While that has brought the region’s economy to a standstill, the impact will be far greater if Haifa, a major port and Israel’s third largest city with close to a quarter-million people, also shuts down.
The city, which is 20 miles south of the Lebanese border, was hit by rockets for the first time on Thursday, when two Katyushas caused only nominal damage. Haifa was still relatively busy today following the deadly attack, and most residents said they did not plan to disrupt their routines.
But Israel’s Home Front Command called on residents in Haifa and nearby areas to stay in sheltered areas. All ships in the Haifa port were instructed to go to sea, and Haifa University canceled all activities, Israeli radio reported.
“This attack was terrible, but I feel that if we hit back the shooting will only get worse,” said Limor Avrahami, an occupational therapist at the hospital. “I know most people in Israel disagree with me, but I think this would be the best way to quiet things down.”
nytimes.com
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