MIDDLE EAST: Hizbullah poured more than 50 rockets into northern Israel yesterday, hitting a house in Safed, another in Akko and a three-storey apartment block in Haifa, injuring 11 as it collapsed.
If, as the Israeli newspapers reported, Hizbullah was finding it difficult to fire its missiles, there was no sign of it in the target zone. The main reason for the low casualty rate was that Israelis obeyed instructions from the army and hunkered down in their homes and bomb shelters.
Throughout the north of Israel, from Haifa to Rosh Hanikra on the coast and from Nahariya inland to Safed, all activity had ceased. Holiday resorts, parks and beaches were empty. There were cars on the roads but 90 per cent were military or police vehicles, or civilian vehicles carrying soldiers or police.
The other reason for the low casualties was the inaccuracy of the missiles. Rockets landed in the region of Kiryat Shmona, Tiberius and many other northern towns without damaging roads or buildings.
Eilat, Israel's most southerly town, prepared to receive northern residents who may be forced to leave their homes. In Tel Aviv, the local council prepared for missile strikes following an army warning that Hizbullah possesses missiles capable of hitting the city.
Israel's main nuclear reactor at Dimona is believed to be out of the range of all Hizbullah missiles, but its secondary experimental reactor at Soreq is only 16km south of Tel Aviv.
Tension meanwhile remained high in the West Bank and Gaza. An Israeli soldier was killed when forces raided Nablus and five rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel, hitting the towns of Ashkelon and Sderot.
Israeli forces continued to operate in the north and south of Gaza and its aircraft continued to bomb the strip. Jets bombed the foreign ministry for a second time overnight although it was put beyond use by the first attack.
In Nahariya, a few kilometres from the Israel-Lebanon border, explosions could be heard in Lebanon. The town remained very quiet. Of the few people on the streets, the majority were pensioners.
Ariel Sharon (81) who, like the ailing former prime minister, rejected his Yiddish name and independently chose the same new Hebrew name, fought with the British eighth army in north Africa and Italy and said he was too old to change his routine regardless. "I wonder why there are not more people out on the street. There is quite a lot of destruction, but it appears to be on the other side of the border so, for the time being, we might as well take it easy," he said.
At sea, there were five Israeli ships ranged on the horizon and the sound of artillery echoed from Lebanon. Loudspeakers announced people could leave their bomb shelters between 10.30am and noon. Almost every Israeli home has a bomb shelter or access to one.
Few people took advantage of the short all-clear. Mordechai Peres (54) and Yaacov Turjeman (65) were sitting having coffee. "We are used to it. It happens every couple of years. We don't sleep in the bomb shelters although the children do," said Mr Turjeman. Mr Peres added: "I stay in the house for a bit then I come and have a coffee and then go back."
The one hive of activity in Nahariya is the Carlton Hotel, which has been taken over by journalists and the Israeli army. The soldiers are men from the Nahal regiment and women from the education corps. The men, whose regiment was set up to farm and fight, are there to support the civil authorities while the women have been sent to entertain children.
At the hotel bar, there is a single British couple eating chips as if they were in Marbella. Chris Bale, from Liverpool, said he was working on an engineering project in the area and his wife arrived to visit him on Friday. "I thought the whole thing would blow over very quickly," he said.