Can you imagine living like this?

Yesterday, Israeli forces killed Zuhair Qaisi, Secretary General of the so-called Popular Resistance Committees, a terror group based in Gaza. In retaliation, the terror group in Gaza fired over 100 missiles at southern Israel. Amazingly, the Israeli Iron Dome anti-missile system shot down over 90% of the missiles that were heading towards Israeli cities and towns, and the rest exploded in fields where there were no people around. The attack, however, is continuing. Here are the instructions that the Israeli government is giving to the citizens who live in the three largest cities in the area:

For all those living within 40 kilometers of Gaza, all major gatherings of 500 people and more have been banned. Residents of Sderot and Gaza-border communities should remain within 15-second running distances of safe areas. Ashkelon residents should keep within a 30 second distance, and residents of Ashdod should be within 45 seconds of a safe area.

Let me put this into context. The city of Ashdod has a population of about 220,000. These people get a 45 second warning of a missile impact. Those in Ashkelon number about 120,000. These folks get a 30 second warning of an impending strike. Sderot has under 25,000 inhabitants who get a 15 second warning. Then, of course, there are all the towns immediately around the cities just mentioned which add another hundred thousand people or so to those being threatened. In all, it is like half a million people who get less than a minute warning of incoming missiles.

Think about this. If you are a family with young children, you need to be ready to grab your kids and get into a shelter in 30 seconds or less. If you are elderly and unable to walk quickly or run, you still need to get to a shelter in 30 seconds. In other words, families with small children and the elderly just have to stay in shelters while there is elevated risk of attack. Even the rest of the people must have their activities curtailed. After all, you cannot get into a car to go somewhere without being way too far from a shelter in the event of an attack. These folks just have to get used to the idea that death could just come from the sky at any moment and there is essentially nothing that they can do about it if they want to go on living their lives. The situation is intolerable.

The truth is that this level of attack from Gaza is very unusual. It seems designed to lure Israel into launching another ground attack on the Gaza strip. Now think of who will benefit the most in the event of such attack. The answer is clear: Iran. An Israeli attack on Gaza will take the focus in the Middle east away from the Iranian nuclear program. An Israeli attack on Gaza will make it much harder for the Saudis to help Israel in an attack on the Iranian nuclear program. An Israeli attack will also lead to having the usual protests in western Europe and even in the USA against Israeli "aggression". And yet, a constant barrage from Gaza will surely lead to an Israeli response, no matter how much Iran may benefit in the short run.