Since 2001, Palestinian militants have launched tens of thousands of rocket and mortar attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip as part of the continuing Arab–Israeli conflict. The attacks, widely condemned for targeting civilians, have been described as terrorism by the United Nations, the European Union, and Israeli officials, and are defined as war crimes by human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The international community considers indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets to be illegal under international law. Palestinian militants say rocket attacks are a response to Israel's block of Gaza, but the Palestinian Authority has condemned them and says rocket attacks undermine peace.

From 2004 to 2014, these attacks have killed 27 Israeli civilians, 5 foreign nationals, 5 IDF soldiers, and at least 11 Palestinians and injured more than 1900 people. Their main effect is their creation of widespread psychological trauma and disruption of daily life among the Israeli populace. Medical studies in Sderot, the Israeli city closest to the Gaza Strip, have documented a post-traumatic stress disorder incidence among young children of almost 50%, as well as high rates of depression and miscarriage. A public opinion poll conducted in March 2013 found that a majority of Palestinians do not support firing rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip, with only 38% favoring their use. Another poll conducted in September 2014 found that 80% of Palestinians support firing rockets against Israel, if it does not allow unfettered access to Gaza. These rocket attacks have caused flight cancellations at Ben Gurion airport.

The weapons, often generically referred to as Qassams, were initially crude and short-range, mainly affecting Sderot and other communities bordering the Gaza Strip. In 2006, more sophisticated rockets began to be deployed, reaching the larger coastal city of Ashkelon, and by early 2009 major cities Ashdod and Beersheba had been hit by Katyusha, WS-1B and Grad rockets. In 2012, Jerusalem and Israel's commercial center Tel Aviv were targeted with locally made "M-75" and Iranian Fajr-5 rockets, respectively, and in July 2014, the northern city of Haifa was targeted for the first time.  A few projectiles have contained white phosphorus said to be recycled from unexploded munitions used by Israel in bombing Gaza.

Attacks have been carried out by all Palestinian armed groups, and, prior to the 2008–2009 Gaza War, were consistently supported by most Palestinians, although the stated goals have been mixed.

Israeli defenses constructed specifically to deal with the weapons include fortifications for schools and bus stops as well as an alarm system named Red Color. Iron Dome, a system to intercept short-range rockets, was developed by Israel and first deployed in the spring of 2011 to protect Beersheba and Ashkelon, but officials and experts warned that it would not be completely effective. Shortly thereafter, it intercepted a Palestinian Grad rocket for the first time.

In the cycle of violence, rocket attacks alternate with Israeli military actions. From the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada (30 September 2000) through March 2013, 8,749 rockets and 5,047 mortar shells were fired on Israel, while Israel has conducted several military operations in the Gaza Strip, among them Operation Rainbow (2004), Operation Days of Penitence (2004), Operation Summer Rains (2006), Operation Autumn Clouds (2006), Operation Hot Winter (2008), Operation Cast Lead (2009), Operation Pillar of Defense (2012), Operation Protective Edge (2014), and Operation Guardian of the Walls (2021).

Overview

Attacks began in 2001. Since then (August 2014 data), almost 20,000 rockets have hit southern Israel, all but a few thousand of them since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in August 2005. Hamas justified these as counter-attacks to the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The rockets have killed 28 people and injured hundreds more. The range of the rockets has increased over time. The original Qassam rocket has a range of about  but more advanced rockets, including versions of the old Soviet Grad or Katyusha have hit Israeli targets  from Gaza.

Some analysts see the attacks as a shift away from reliance on suicide bombing, which was previously Hamas's main method of attacking Israel, as an adoption of the rocket tactics used by Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Participating groups

All the Palestinian armed groups carry out rocket and mortar attacks, with varying frequency. The main groups are Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Resistance Committees, Fatah, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In June 2007, Hamas took over from Fatah as the de facto governing authority in the Gaza Strip, while Fatah holds the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority.

Islamic Jihad has involved other Palestinians in the activities, running summer camps where children were taught how to hold a Qassam rocket launcher. One Islamic Jihad rocket maker, Awad al-Qiq, was a science teacher and headmaster at a United Nations school. Christopher Gunness, a UNRWA spokesman, said the UN had "zero-tolerance policy towards politics and militant activities in our schools", but that they "cannot police people's minds."

A 2007 report by Human Rights Watch found "little evidence that Palestinian security forces were making efforts to prevent rocket attacks or to hold responsible the militants who launch them." In some cases, "Palestinian security officials themselves acknowledged they were not acting to stop the attacks."

The Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center estimated that in 2007 the proportions of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip were:
 34% – Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Al Quds)
 22% – Hamas (Qassam)
  8% – Fatah (Kafah)
  6% – Popular Resistance Committees (al Nasser)
 30% – unknown

History

1975
On 3 May 1975 at 4:15 am, two 107mm rockets struck Jerusalem's central area, not far from the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens.

2001–06

Rockets were originally fired mainly on Sderot, an Israeli city on the border of the Gaza Strip. Sderot's population density is slightly greater than that of the Gaza Strip. Due to this, and despite the imperfect aim of these homemade projectiles, they have caused deaths and injuries, as well as significant damage to homes and property, psychological distress and emigration from the city. Ninety percent of the city's residents have had a rocket exploding in their street or an adjacent one.

On 28 March 2006, while Israelis went to general elections, the first Katyusha rocket from Gaza was fired at Israel. The rocket fell near the Itfah kibbutz on the outskirts of Ashkelon and caused no damage or casualties. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. Several months later, On 5 July 2006, a rocket hit the center of Ashkelon for the first time, striking an empty high school. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the attack, which was claimed by Hamas, an "escalation of unprecedented gravity", but the event was quickly overshadowed by the 2006 Lebanon War.

On 25 May 2006 the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades group that published in April 2006 that they had been launching long range missile on Israeli cities, sent a letter to Ramattan that they had developed chemical and biological weapons and threaten with chemical warfare. later that month report of use of chemical weapons by that group had been published in the media.

On 8 June, an event occurred that formed part of a 'chronology of crisis' leading to the most intense barrage of rocket attacks during 2006. Although Israel acknowledged that Hamas was largely sticking to the February 2005 cease-fire (in Fatah-controlled Gaza), it recommenced assassinations of Hamas leaders with the killing of Jamal Abu Samhadana. The Israeli military said Samhadana and the other targeted militants were planning an attack on Israel. The next day, in response to the assassination and calls for revenge, Islamic Jihad fired rockets at Israel, and a few hours later the IDF retaliated in turn with a bombardment of launch sites on a Gaza beach near Beit Lahia. During the time span of the IDF bombardment, a civilian Gaza family, the Ghalias, was all but wiped out in an explosion. In response to the assassination of its Ministry official and the civilian 'beach' deaths, Hamas announced that it was going to recommence rocket attacks. This was followed by a series of mutual attacks and reprisals between the IDF and Gaza factions, culminating in the abduction of two suspected Hamas members, and, on the following day, of IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit. The latter event gave rise to Operation Summer Rains, as a result of which Gaza's electricity network was damaged, and 402 Palestinians and 7 Israelis were killed.

2007

On 5 January 2007 Palestinian militants fired a Katyusha rocket at Ashkelon. The Katyusha has a range of 18–20 kilometers, and the rocket was fired from the Al-Atatra region in the northern Gaza Strip, traveling about 17 kilometers before reaching its target. No one was hurt in the Katyusha attack. On 7 October 2007 the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for a Grad-type Katyusha that hit Netivot. During this period, Katyusha attacks from Gaza were rare.

2008–09

In January 2008 the border between Gaza and Egypt was breached by Hamas. It allowed them to bring in Russian and Iranian made rockets with a larger range.

In the first half of 2008, the number of attacks rose sharply, consistently totaling several hundred per month. In addition, Ashkelon was hit many times during this period by Grad rockets.

On 26 February 2008 a Grad rocket hit the hospital grounds of the Barzilai Medical Center, approximately 200 meters away from the neonatal intensive-care unit. As it is only 6 miles away from the Gaza border, it is the frequently the target of rocket attacks, with 140 rockets fired at it over the course of one weekend.

After reports of shells with white phosphorus launched against southern parts of Israel on 14 January 2009, Israeli medical emergency forces are now taught how to treat white phosphorus victims and are ordered to have equipment to handle white phosphorus.

From 19 June to 19 December 2008, an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was in effect. During this time, only several dozen rockets were fired at Israel, a marked decrease from the pre-ceasefire period. Hamas imprisoned some of those firing rockets.

During the Gaza War, Palestinian militants began to deploy improved Qassam and factory-made rockets with a range of 40 kilometers. Rockets reached major Israeli cities Ashdod, Beersheba and Gedera for the first time, putting one-eighth of Israel's population in rocket range and raising concerns about the safety of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, Israel's largest population center, as well as the Negev Nuclear Research Center. According to Israeli authorities, 571 rockets and 205 mortar shells landed in Israel during the 22 days of the conflict.

On 18 January 2009, following a unilateral ceasefire declaration by Israel, Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced that they would cease rocket attacks for one week. After that, rockets and mortar attacks continued almost daily through February.

2010

According to the Israel Security Agency's annual report, Palestinians carried out 150 rocket launches and 215 mortar launches at Israel during the year. This represented a decrease in both types of attacks compared to 2009, in which there were 569 rocket launches and 289 mortar launches.

The report said Iran succeeded in smuggling 1,000 mortar shells and hundreds of short-range rockets into the Gaza Strip over the course of the year. The security agency also warned that the Sinai Desert was turning into Hamas's "backyard" for operations and storage of arms. 2010 saw two unique instances of Hamas firing rockets from the Sinai at the southern Israeli port city of Eilat.

On 18 March, Thai national Manee Singmueangphon was killed by a Palestinian Qassam rocket launched at a greenhouse in Netiv Haasara. Both Ansar al Sunna, an Islamist group thought to have links with al-Qaeda in Iraq, and al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, claimed responsibility for the attack.

On 30 July, a Hamas Grad missile hit a residential neighborhood in the heart of the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. No one was physically injured, but eight people suffered from shock and surrounding apartment buildings sustained damage.

On 2 August, Hamas militants in Egypt fired seven Iranian-made Grad missiles at the resort city of Eilat in the extreme south of Israel. Overshot missiles hit the Jordanian city of Aqaba, killing one person and wounding several.

On 20 October, an accidental explosion occurred at a Hamas Qassam rocket training site in the densely crowded Tel As-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Thirteen people were injured by flying shrapnel, including five children and three women.

2011

Over the course of 2011, 680 rockets, mortars and Grad missiles were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
At the end of 2010, Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it and other Palestinians militant groups in the Gaza Strip would temporarily halt rocket attacks against Israel. On 7 January, it claimed responsibility for a mortar attack that injured three agricultural workers, and the group was responsible for most of the attacks on Israel in the first two weeks of the year. On 12 January, the group declared again that it would cease firing rockets. Multiple, unclaimed rocket and mortar attacks occurred on 16, 17 and 18 January.

On 2 January, it was revealed that two East Jerusalem Arabs, employees of the British Consulate General in Jerusalem, were arrested for suspected involvement in an aborted Hamas plot to fire a missile at Teddy Stadium during a soccer match. The two were charged the following day with weapons trafficking.

On 15 March, Israel seized the Victoria, a ship containing concealed Iranian missiles destined for the Gaza Strip.

On 27 March, Israel first deployed the new Iron Dome missile defense system to protect Beersheba. The city, one of Israel's largest, had recently been targeted again by Palestinian missiles after being safe since the 2008-2009 Gaza War. A week later, a second battery was deployed to protect Ashkelon. On 7 April, the Ashkelon battery successfully intercepted a Palestinian Grad missile fired at the city, marking the first successful interception of a short range rocket in history. On 31 August, Israel deployed a third battery outside Ashdod before the new school year. As of that date, Iron Dome had intercepted several dozen Gazan rockets at an estimated cost of $100,000 per interception, not including the price of the system itself.

On 4 April, Israel indicted alleged Hamas "rocket godfather" Dirar Abu Sisi in the Beersheba District Court. Abu Sisi had reportedly been captured by Israel in Ukraine a month prior. He denied any wrongdoing.

On 7 April, Hamas militants fired a Kornet anti-tank missile at an Israel school bus. The sole passenger on board, 16-year-old boy Daniel Viflic, was killed.

On 18 August, a series of cross-border attacks were carried out in southern Israel near the Egyptian border. The initial attacks sparked several days of clashes between Israel and Palestinian militant groups that resulted in substantial casualties to both sides.

2012

The Jerusalem Post and Ynet news reported that in January 2012, two mortars were fired from Gaza into the area governed by the Eshkol Regional Council which were determined by the Israeli military to have contained white phosphorus; the shells were reported to have landed in open fields, causing no injuries or damage. The newspaper said the Eshkol Regional Council filed a formal complaint with the United Nations, noting that the Geneva Conventions prohibit the use of phosphorus against civilians.

Until April 2012 more than 360 rocket and mortar attacks had been launched (~300 during the March 2012 Gaza–Israel clashes).

The Ynet newsreported that In May 2012 the Islamic Jihad published video footage of a multi-barrel rocket launcher mounted on vehicle

On 24 October 2012, "[m]ore than 65 rockets were fired into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip." A woman in Ashkelon, three foreign workers, and a policeman received injuries.  "Several people were treated for shock," according to JNS.org.

2013

On 21 March, during US President Barack Obama's official visit to Israel, Palestinians in Beit Hanoun fired four rockets at the Israeli city of Sderot, triggering alarms in local communities and forcing residents on their way to work or school to run to bomb shelters. One rocket hit the backyard of a home in the city, spraying shrapnel into the walls and shattering windows. A second projectile landed in an open area within the surrounding Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. The two remaining rockets were believed to have landed within the Gaza Strip. The Mujahedeen Shura Council, a Palestinian Salafi group, claimed responsibility for the attack

On 2 April, Palestinians attempted to fire two mortar shells into Israel; both landed within the Gaza Strip. Later, in the evening, a third projectile was fired into the Eshkol Regional Council. The Mujahedeen Shura Council claimed responsibility for the attacks. Israel responded to the attacks with air strikes on two targets in the Gaza Strip that night, causing no injuries. This was the first such strike since Operation Pillar of Defense. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said: "[W]e see Hamas as being responsible for everything that is fired from the Strip at Israel. We won't allow any routine involving a drizzle of rockets at our civilians and forces."

On 3 April, Palestinians from Gaza fired two rockets at the Israeli city of Sderot. The rockets struck during the morning as children were arriving to school, triggering the alert siren and sending families into bomb shelters for cover. The United Nations special envoy to the Middle East Robert Serry condemned the "indiscriminate firing of rockets into civilian areas" and also called on Israel to exercise restraint. France said it "harshly condemns" the rocket fire on the "civilian population in south Israel". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "If the quiet is violated, we will respond strongly".

On 4 April, Palestinians again fired a rocket and three mortar shells at Israel. A rocket landed in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council at around 2 am, triggering alarms in nearby communities, while two of the mortars fell within the Gaza Strip.

On 29 April, a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip which impacted southern Israel, causing no casualties or damage.

On 19 June, three Grad rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, hitting the Israeli town of Ashkelon. The attacks caused no injuries, marking the first time that rockets had been fired from Gaza since 29 April.

2014

On 5 March, the Israeli Navy intercepted a ship containing dozens of long-range rockets being smuggled from Iran to the Gaza Strip.

On 10 March, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, unveiled a monument to its rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns, a life-sized model of an M-75 rocket in Gaza City. The group declared that the attacks "managed to take the battle to the heart of the Zionist entity (Israel)".

On 8 July, Operation Protective Edge commenced in response to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, ending on 26 August. In this time period, between 2500 and 3000 rockets were launched.

2015

In 2015, there were 23 Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, according to the IDF.

On 23 April, Israel's 67th independence day, a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel. The rocket hit an open field in the Sha'ar HaNegev region near Sderot, causing no injuries or damage.

On 27 May, an M-75 or Grad missile impacted in Gan Yavne, a city east of Ashdod. No reports of injuries or damage were noted initially.

2016

In 2016, there were 15 Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.

2017

The Israeli military reported that 35 rockets and mortars were launched from the Gaza Strip in 2017, the vast majority of them in December. This wave of rocket attacks came amid Palestinian outrage over the United States government decision to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The rockets did not cause any fatalities or serious injuries. The Israeli military attributed the attacks to Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Salafi groups. Israel retaliated to the attacks by striking Hamas positions, causing two deaths. Hamas conducted a series of arrests of Salafi militants it said were responsible for rocket attacks.

2018

Hundreds of rockets were fired at Israel during the Gaza-Israel clashes of November 2018.  at least one civilian fatality has been reported in Ashkelon, with 70 reported as wounded. The man who was killed was a Palestinian who had moved to Israel from occupied Hebron.

The Iron dome has successfully intercepted around 100 of the 370 rockets that have been fired. After the attacks, the IDF announced that it had struck over 100 targets in the Gaza Strip including a weapons factory, munitions warehouse and Hamas' Public Security offices. Hamas responded to the air strikes by making additional threats against Be'er Sheva and Ashdod. The attacks had a significant effect on businesses in southern Israel as restaurant patrons cancelled their reservations. The finance minister announced that Israeli businesses in certain regions would be compensated for losses. All schools within 40 km of Gaza were closed; the Israel Tax Authority has promised compensation to parents who were unable to go to work because they had to stay home with their children.

2019

2020

2021

On the evening between 23 and 24 April 2021 36 rockets were fired towards Israel from Gaza, six of which were intercepted by the Israel Defense Forces' Iron Dome defense system. Although there were no injuries, property was damaged in several communities in Israel. The Israeli military responded with military strikes in Gaza.

On  10 May 2021 Hamas took credit for firing 7 rockets at Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh from Gaza, in what Hamas said was a response to injuries of over 300 Arabs in clashes with Israeli police outside al Aqsa mosque. One of the missiles was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, and at least one of the other rockets landed in a village west of Jerusalem. Some homes were damaged, but no casualties were reported. In a separate incident an Israeli driver was wounded when an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza hit the vehicle. Islamic Jihad took credit for that attack.

2023
On 7 October 2023, Hamas launched an incursion into Israel starting with a rocket barrage of over 5,000 missiles against Israeli targets, leading to the Israel-Hamas War.

Tactics

Khaled Jaabari, Gaza commander of the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, said that the group uses Google Earth to determine targets. Rocket fire occasionally occurs in the early morning when children head to school.

A source close to Hamas described the movement's tactic of launching projectiles from between homes during the 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict: "They fired rockets in between the houses and covered the alleys with sheets so they could set the rockets up in five minutes without the planes seeing them. The moment they fired, they escaped, and they are very quick." Videos released by Hamas in 2011 show Qassam rockets being fired from residential areas and mosques. According to Yedioth Aharonoth journalist Elior Levy, "Gaza terror cells choose to fire from urban areas knowing that the Israel Defense Forces refrain from intercepting them for fear of hurting civilians. The killing of civilians in Gaza also serves the terrorists' purposes who claim Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza".

It has been documented, that Arab terrorist groups and Hamas placed weapons and missile launchers in densely populated areas. Human Rights Watch issued a report condemning the firing of Kassam rockets as "war crimes", stating "None of these rockets can be reliably aimed... Such weapons are inherently indiscriminate when directed towards densely populated areas. The absence of Israeli military forces in the areas struck by the rockets, as well as statements from the leaders of Hamas and other armed groups, indicate that many of these attacks are deliberately intended to strike Israeli civilians and civilian structures... Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have frequently violated the laws of war by firing rockets from within populated areas..." Indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian structures that do not discriminate between civilians and military targets are illegal under international law.

Denial of service attacks on emergency services

There have been reports in the Israeli press about denial of service attacks by Palestinians on the Magen David Adom and other emergency call lines after rocket and mortar attacks, that resulted in a development of a filtering system that had been installed in MDA and other emergency call systems.

Israeli defensive measures

Fortifications and bomb shelters

A guidance paper by the Israeli home front command, that is given for each household in Israel, include sections for basic treatment of chemical warfare victims. The Home Front Command performs periodic training for citizens for chemical and biological attacks. As of 2006 all public educational facilities in confrontation areas are ordered to be built bomb proof (can sustain a direct hit from a katusha missile) and must have an option to be connected to chemical and biological purifying systems, with an exception for kindergartens and special care education systems that must have a central air purifying system. All medical or treatment facilities must have a shelter that can be gas proof (can be sealed in a form that the only source of air would be via the purifying ventilation systems) with connection to purifying systems. All long-term treatments facilities must be built as a bomb shelter and must be built to sustain 4 hours of isolation.

Residential buildings and homes in Israel built after 1990 are generally equipped with Merkhav Mugan. Single- or two-story buildings built between 1982 and 1990 in the northern parts are equipped with a fortified route (sometimes below ground level) into a public bomb shelter. Older buildings generally lack these fortifications. (All buildings built between 1951 - 1982 are designed with access for neighborhood public bomb shelters). As of February 2009, approximately 5,000 residents of southern Israel, mostly elderly immigrants from the former Soviet Union, lacked proper reinforced rooms or reasonable access to public shelters. Many Sderot families sleep together in a single fortified room in their homes.

In March 2008 the Israeli Government placed 120 fortified bus stops in Sderot, following a Defense Ministry assessment that most Qassam-related injuries and fatalities were caused by shrapnel wounds in victims on the street. As of January 2009, all schools in Sderot have been fortified against rockets; fortifications consist of arched canopies over roofs. On 3 January 2009 a Grad rocket penetrated the fortification of a school in Ashkelon.

In March 2009, Sderot inaugurated a reinforced children's recreation center built by the Jewish National Fund. The purpose of the center, which has "$1.5 million worth of reinforced steel", is to provide a rocket-proof place for children to play. Sderot also has a "missile-protected playground," with concrete tunnels painted to look like caterpillars.

As of 18 February 2010 all public safe places (Merkah mugan/bomb shelter) must be built with gas and liquid filtering systems (can defend from a chemical and biological missile attack for several hours), And as of 18 May 2010 any new household without that will not be approved with form No.4 (the ability to connect a house to electricity and water)

Red Color

The Israeli government has installed an alarm system called "Red Color" (צבע אדום) to warn citizens of impending rocket attacks, although its effectiveness has been questioned. The system currently operates in a number of southern Israeli cities within rocket range. When the signature of a rocket launch is detected originating in Gaza, the system automatically activates the public broadcast warning system in nearby Israeli communities and military bases. A two-tone electronic audio alert (with a pattern of high, 2 second pause, high-low) is broadcast twice, followed by a recorded female voice intoning the Hebrew words for Red Color ("Tzeva Adom"). The entire program is repeated until all rockets have impacted and no further launches are detected. In Sderot, it gives residents approximately 15 seconds warning of an incoming rocket. The system was installed in Ashkelon between July 2005 and April 2006.

Iron Dome

Iron Dome () is a mobile system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems designed to intercept short-range rockets with a range less than 70 km. In February 2007, the system was selected by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak as the Israeli Defense Force's defense system against short range rockets. On 7 July 2008, the first test of the system was completed successfully, and the first operational test was expected to take place at the end of 2009. The system was scheduled to be operational in 2010, but was temporarily delayed. In March, the system was deployed in several strategic sites near major Israeli southern cities. On 7 April 2011, the system successfully intercepted a Grad rocket launched from Gaza for the first time.

The system is composed of a radar, a control center, and interceptor missiles. Very limited information has been made available about the system in the Israeli media, but from this information it is known that the interceptor missile (named Tamir) is equipped with electro-optic sensors and several steering fins, providing it with high maneuverability. The system's radar identifies the rocket launch, extrapolates its flight path and transfers this information to the control center, which then uses this information to determine the projected impact location. If the projected target justifies an interception, then an interceptor missile is fired.

Effects

Casualties, fatalities and rockets fired

According to B'Tselem "from June 2004 to 23 July 2014, 26 Israeli civilians (four of them minors) and two foreign nationals were killed in Israel by Palestinian rocket and mortar fire. In addition, five soldiers were killed, three in Israel and two in the Gaza Strip. Another Israeli civilian and three foreign nationals were killed by rocket fire at settlements in the Gaza Strip, before they were evacuated." There were 3 more civilian casualties during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict. Most of those killed were civilians, including children. The first casualties from the rocket fire were a 4-year-old boy and his grandfather, who were killed in June 2004. Other victims include two small children, aged 2 and 4, who were killed while playing in the street later that same year, and a teenage girl, Ayala-Haya (Ella) Abukasis, who was struck and killed while shielding her younger brother. As of 2008, such rockets have demonstrated a kill ratio of 0.4 percent. In addition, more than 1,700 have been injured. Injuries have also occurred mainly among civilians, several of whom were injured very seriously.

Misfired rockets
Misfired rockets have also killed and injured Palestinians within the Gaza Strip. Due to restrictions on information politics and a lack of free press in the Gaza Strip, precisely reporting the number of Palestinian victims is difficult. As far as it became known, the missiles, rockets and mortars have killed six Palestinians and injured dozens more. On 8 June 2005, rockets fired at the Israeli settlement of Ganei Tal killed two Palestinian workers and one Chinese worker in a packing plant. On 2 August 2005, a rocket apparently launched by Islamic Jihad killed a 6-year-old boy and his father in Beit Hanoun. On 26 December 2008 a mortar aimed at Israel killed two Palestinian girls in the Gaza Strip, aged 5 and 12. In November 2012 three relatives, including infant son, of a BBC journalist Jehad Mashhrawi was killed by what was initially attributed to IDF strike, with photo of Jehad holding his dead son becoming viral in world media, but a few months later UN attributed the strike to a rocket fired from Gaza.  On 25 June 2014 a child was killed by a misfired rocket. On 28 July 2014 Hamas rockets exploded inside Gaza killing seven and damaging Al-Shati refugee camp and Al-Shifa Hospital. On 8 May 2019 in a rare admission, Islamic Jihad confirmed that a Palestinian child was killed by their own misfired rocket. In 2022 overall 16 people estimated were killed by rockets falling short in Gaza. On 11 May 2023 a failed rocket killed four civilians in Beit Hanoun as out of 507 fired rockets 110 fell short in Gaza. In October 2023 the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion was initially attributed to Israeli airstrike, until after independent evidence became available it was attributed to a misfired Hamas rocket.

Statistics
Precisely counting the number of rockets fired is impossible, and differing estimates have been given. The injury figures and attack counts below are attributed to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to 4 September 2005, the majority of attacks were against Israeli targets within the Gaza Strip.

*as of 6 June 2015

Refugees

In May 2007, a significant increase in rocket attacks from Gaza prompted the temporary evacuation of thousands of residents from Sderot. According to the United Nations, 40 percent of the city's residents left in the last two weeks of May. During the summer of 2007, 3,000 of the city's 22,000 residents (comprising mostly the city's key upper and middle class residents)  left for other areas, out of rocket range.

During the 2008–2009 conflict, a large section of the residents of Ashkelon, a southern coastal city put in range of Grad-type rockets since the beginning of the conflict, fled the city for the relative safety of central and northern Israel. On 10–11 January, according to Israeli media, 40 percent of the residents fled the city, despite calls by the Mayor to stay.

In February 2009, the BBC reported that 3,000 of Sderot's 24,000 residents had "upped and left."

Education

Israeli media reported on 28 May 2007 that only 800 out of a total of 3000 pupils in Sderot had turned up to schools.

During the 2008–2009 conflict, schools and universities in southern Israel closed due to rocket threats. Hamas rockets landed on Israeli educational facilities several times (such as empty schools in Beersheba) from 2008 to 2009, with no casualties as of 15 January, except for cases of shock. Studies resumed starting 11 January, with IDF Home Front Command representatives stationed at schools. Only schools with fortified classrooms and bomb shelters were allowed to bring in children. Israeli Education Minister Yuli Tamir said she hoped a return to school would provide a little structure and routine in a time of great stress and uncertainty for the children. Students were reluctant to return, with Sapir College in Sderot reporting less than 25 percent attendance after a student was killed by a rocket.

In March 2009, the Ashkelon urban parent committee decided to keep children out of schools following a surge in the number of rocket attacks on southern Israel and a qassam hit on an empty school in the city. As a result, only 40 percent of school students and 60 percent of kindergarten children attended, though the municipality had decided to keep schools open.

Psychological

In 2008, Natal, the Israel Center for Victims of Terror and War, conducted a study on the city of Sderot based on representative sampling. The study found that between 75 percent and 94 percent of Sderot children aged 4–18 exhibited symptoms of post-traumatic stress. 28 percent of adults and 30 percent of children had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The co-director of the study emphasized the distinction between post-traumatic stress symptoms, such as problems sleeping and concentrating, and PTSD itself, which can interfere seriously with daily life.

An American Psychiatric Association study published in 2010, headed by Professor Yair Bar-Haim of Tel Aviv University, found that incidence rate for post-traumatic symptoms among Israeli civilians was correlated with proximity to the Gaza Strip. Civilians who lived in areas where rockets frequently exploded, and where there was less warning time in advance of strikes, had a higher chance of developing post-traumatic symptoms than those living far enough from Gaza to have one minute or more in which to seek shelter after rockets were launched. The study also found that life under rocket fire sometimes led to cognitive disengagement from threat. Cognitive disengagement was positively correlated with the likelihood of developing pathologies such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

During the Gaza War, when rockets were falling on the city of Ashdod, the municipality opened a treatment centre for those with shell shock.

According to a 2009 Amnesty International report,
Scores [of rockets] have struck homes, businesses, schools, other public buildings and vehicles in and around towns and villages in southern Israel. It is purely by chance that in most cases such strikes have not caused death or injury, and the lethal potential of such projectiles should not be underestimated. Above all, the constant threat of impending rocket attacks has caused fear and disrupted the lives of the growing number of Israelis who live within range of such attacks, reaching up to a million.Also in 2009, a spokeswoman for the Sderot Hosen Center, which provides psychological support and rehabilitation for the community, reported that attacks had taken a high toll on the mental health of children and adults in and around Sderot.Children are afraid to sleep on their own, to be on their own, even to go to the toilet alone. They feel that their parents cannot protect them. Bed wetting is a common manifestation of their anxiety and insecurity. Their parents are similarly anxious and frustrated. It is even difficult to speak of PTSD, for as long as the rockets fall the trauma is renewed daily; we are not even in a post-trauma stage.

Political
On 12 December 2007, after more than 20 rockets landed in the Sderot area in a single day, including a direct hit to one of the main avenues, Sderot mayor Eli Moyal announced his resignation, citing the government's failure to halt the rocket attacks. Moyal was persuaded to retract his resignation.

On 9 February 2009, Palestinian Authority foreign minister Riad Malki accused Hamas of trying to influence the outcome of the 2009 Israeli general election by keeping up the rocket fire on southern Israel.

Motives
Rationales given by the Palestinian groups responsible for the attacks vary. They include the arguments that the rockets are effective at drawing attention to Palestinian issues, and that they avenge perceived Israeli aggression.

Hamas

Hamas argues that Israel's blockade of Gaza justified a counter-attack by any means possible.

Two months after the 2014 Gaza war, Khaled Mishal stated his justification for rocket attacks, in an interview,
When did we fire those rockets? We fired them when Israel began its aggression and its war on Gaza. That means we did that under the right of self-defense. One last point: when Hamas possesses smart and highly accurate rockets, you’ll see that it will only strike military targets.

Hamas co-founder Mahmoud Zahar has said that the goal of the attacks is to force mass migration in Israel and disrupt the daily life of its citizens. Explaining why his group had moved from suicide bombing to rocket attacks, he further argued that rocket attacks are more effective and limit Palestinian losses.

Hamas has given other explanations concerning various attacks. Salah Bardawil, a Palestinian legislator who serves as spokesman for the Hamas faction in parliament, has said "We know we can't achieve military equality, but when a person suffers huge pain he has to respond somehow. This is how we defend ourselves. This is how we tell the world we are here." Regarding specific strikes in 2007, Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal called the attacks self-defense and retaliation against Israeli killings of Hamas supporters. In January 2009 Mashaal called the rockets "our cry of protest to the world"
An attack in November 2008 was said by Hamas officials to be in revenge for the recent deaths of its militants and increased Israeli closing of Gaza crossings. A barrage in December 2008 was described by the group as retaliation for the deaths of three of its fighters in combat with Israeli troops.

PFLP
A spokesperson from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), on 17 January 2009, called the rockets a "representation of our resistance", stressing that as long as rockets were launched, "our cause is alive".The rockets are both a practical and a symbolic representation of our resistance to the occupier [Israel]. They are a constant reminder that the occupier is in fact an occupier, and that no matter how they may engage in sieges, massacres, fence us in, deny us the basic human needs of life, we will continue to resist and we will continue to hold fast to our fundamental rights, and we will not allow them to be destroyed. So long as one rocket is launched at the occupier, our people, our resistance and our cause is alive.This is why they targeted the rockets – the rockets do make the occupier insecure, because every one is a symbol and a physical act of our rejection to their occupation, to their massacres, to their crimes, and to their continuing assaults on our people. Each rocket says that we will not allow their so-called "solutions" that are based on the abrogation and denial of our rights.

The PFLP claimed responsibility for a 3 April 2010 mortar attack on Israel's Shaar Hanegev region, saying that it was carried out "in response to Zionist crimes". The group did not elaborate further.

Other groups
On 19 January 2009, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, published a statement listing its claimed attacks on Israel, including claimed rocket and mortar attacks on Sderot and Ashkelon. The group said the attacks were carried out "to defend our people in the Gaza Strip" and "to defend the Gaza Strip in the face of Zionist arrogance", but did not elaborate further.

The Popular Resistance Committees claimed that a 7 January 2010 mortar barrage was in "revenge" for an Israeli air strike several days earlier that killed two of the group's fighters.

Ansar al-Sunna, a small, al-Qaida-inspired Salafist militant group, claimed responsibility for an 18 March 2010 Qassam rocket attack on Netiv Haasara that killed 33-year-old Thai national Manee Singmueangphon, calling it a response to Israel's "Judaization" of Islamic holy places. The group did not clarify which acts or which Islamic holy places it was referring to. Further obscuring the motivation for the attack, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, independently claimed responsibility later.

Majlis Shura al-Mujahidin, a Salafi group in the Gaza Strip, emphasized in explaining its rocket attacks on Sderot in 2012 that "Jihad for the sake of Allah against the criminal Jews is an obligation that we draw closer to Allah whenever we find a way to that, in any place, by what Allah facilitates to us from the reasons of power and repelling".

Views

Palestinians

Public opinion polls
Prior to the 2008–2009 Gaza War, polls conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) showed consistently high levels of support for the rocket attacks among the Palestinian public.
 September 2004: 75% of Palestinians support "the firing of rockets from Beit Hanoun", though 59% of the residents of Beit Hanoun reject the practice.
 July 2006 Jerusalem Media & Communication Centre poll: 60.4% of Palestinians "support the continuation of firing rockets against Israeli targets as a suitable response within the current political conditions", whereas  36% "reject them and find them harmful to the Palestinian national interests".
 September 2006: 63% of Palestinians agree "that Palestinians should emulate Hizbullah's methods by launching rockets at Israeli cities", and 35% disagree.
 March 2008: 64% of Palestinians support "launching rockets from the Gaza Strip against Israeli towns and cities such as Sderot and Ashkelon", and 33% oppose.

Conversely, polls conducted after the Gaza War indicated weaker support for the attacks and relatively broad support for attempts to prevent them.
 January 2010 Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO) poll: 62.2% of Palestinians oppose "the re-firing of Al-Qassam rockets from Gaza at Israel" while 29.1% are in favor.
 July 2010 PCPSR poll: 57% of Palestinians support Hamas attempts to prevent rocket launching against Israeli towns and 38% oppose.
 July 2010 Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD) poll: 68% of Palestinians do not want Hamas to resume its rocket attacks on Israel, while 25.5% believe the attacks should be resumed.
 October 2010 PCPO poll: 49.4% of Palestinians oppose "the re-firing of al-Qassam rockets from Gaza at Israel" while 46.2% are in favor.
 April 2011 JMCC poll: 38.6% of Palestinians say that "the locally-made rockets fired from Gaza Strip towards Israeli regions" "harm... Palestinian goals" and 25.4% say that the rockets "help... Palestinian goals".
 May 2011 PCPO poll: 69.6% of Palestinians oppose the resumption "of launching Al-Qassam missiles from Gaza into Israel" and 29.8% support it.
 November 2011 JMCC poll: 40.8% of Palestinians say that the rockets harm Palestinian goals and 27% say that they help Palestinian goals.
 December 2012 JMCC poll: 9.7% say that "locally-made rockets fired from Gaza strip towards Israeli regions" harm Palestinian goals and 74% say they help them.
 March 2013 JMCC poll: 38% support firing rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Other

Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (of Fatah) has condemned the attacks several times, "regardless of who is responsible for them", on one occasion calling them "absurd", and on another saying that "they do not go in the direction of peace." On at least one occasion in 2009, Hamas itself criticized rocket attacks by an unknown group, apparently out of fears that new rocket fire could disrupt reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah which were then underway.

The firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel has been opposed by those living closest to the firing location due to Israeli military responses. On 23 July 2004 a family attempted to physically prevent the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades from setting up a rocket launcher outside their house. Members of the brigade shot and killed one boy and wounded 3 others.

Israel
On 27 December 2008, upon the commencement of Operation Cast Lead, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an address to the nation: "for approximately seven years, hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens in the south have been suffering from rockets being fired at them. Life in the south under rocket barrages had become unbearable. Israel did everything in its power to fulfill the conditions of the calm in the south and enable normal life for its citizens in the communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip. The quiet that we offered was met with shelling."

In October 2012, Yosef Kuperwasser, the director of Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs, said that over 800 rockets had been launched at Israel from Gaza since January 2012, and that organizations such as Islamic Jihad had been taking the lead from Hamas as being the primary perpetrators. Kuperwasser explained that in a worst-case-scenario, Israel could launch a wide operation in Gaza, but said that this would not fully solve the issue, since "there is a wide and deep problem of hate indoctrination that produces more and more terrorists all the time."

Former Brigadier General Gal Hirsch argued that Israel's control over the West Bank prevents the development of rocket threats in that area, in contrast to what happened after Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza and southern Lebanon.

Two Israelis, Aaron Friedman and Yehonatan Tsirolnik, have created an online clock timer, that automatically resets when Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel occur. The time counter on their website uses information from the IDF Home Front Command system and counts time up from the last Palestinian rocket attack on Israel. It displays how long Israel has been rocket free and shows the summed up total numbers of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. "Israel has been under non stop rocket attacks for years ... Whenever a rocket is fired, it restarts. Sadly, this counter never really gets above an hour", Friedman said on 18 July 2014 during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.

Egypt
The 2 August 2010 Rocket attacks on Eilat and Aqaba sparked rage in Egypt at Hamas and Iran. The Egyptian press said the firing of the rockets from Egyptian territory by Hamas or by organizations cooperating with it constituted the crossing of a red line. The Egyptian position is that Iran is employing local proxies, such as Hamas, to escalate violence in the Middle East and to sabotage the Palestinian reconciliation efforts, as well as efforts to renew Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.

Later that year, the Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhouriyya slammed Hamas's firing of "primitive" rockets at Israel that, according to the writer, serve only to prompt a deadly response from Israel. He blamed Hamas for turning the Gaza Strip into a big prison isolated from the world, where the residents suffer poverty while the leaders live in luxury.

United Nations
On 18 January 2009, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said "for the sake of the people of Gaza, I urge in the strongest possible terms Hamas to stop firing rockets." On 20 January, while visiting Sderot, the Secretary General called the rocket attacks "appalling and unacceptable". He added that the projectiles are indiscriminate weapons, and that Hamas attacks are violations of basic humanitarian law. Earlier, in November 2007, Ban had condemned a rocket attack launched from a UN-run Gaza school.

On 17 February 2008, John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said while visiting Sderot, "The people of Sderot and the surrounding area have had to live with these unacceptable and indiscriminate rocket attacks for seven years now. There is no doubt about the physical and psychological suffering these attacks are causing. I condemn them utterly and call on those responsible to stop them now without conditions".

Following a 30 July 2010, Palestinian Grad missile attack on the heart of Ashkelon, United Nations Middle East envoy Robert Serry said that indiscriminate rocket fire against civilians was completely unacceptable, and constituted a terrorist attack.

United States
In July 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house, where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing." On 28 December 2008, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement: "the United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel". On 2 March 2009 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the attacks.

European Union
On 7 June 2005, The European Union presidency, held by Luxembourg, condemned the firing of rockets by Palestinians at Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip and against Sderot. In January 2009, European Union Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said "Launching rockets at civilians is a terrorist action, which has to be strongly denounced."

Human rights groups
The attacks have been condemned as war crimes, both because they usually target civilians and because the weapons' inaccuracy would disproportionately endanger civilians even if military targets were chosen. Human Rights Watch has also condemned the attackers for firing from near residential structures, thus putting Gazan civilians at unnecessary risk. According to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem,
Palestinian organizations that fire Qassam rockets openly declare that they intend to strike, among other targets, Israeli civilians. Attacks aimed at civilians are immoral and illegal, and the intentional killing of civilians is a grave breach under the Fourth Geneva Convention, a war crime, and cannot be justified, whatever the circumstances. Furthermore, Qassam rockets are themselves illegal, even when aimed at military objects, because the rockets are so imprecise and endanger civilians in the area from which the rockets are fired as well as where they land, thus violating two fundamental principles of the laws of war: distinction and proportionality.

Attacks from outside the Gaza Strip

West Bank

There have been several attempts by Palestinian groups to fire rockets at Israel from the West Bank, though none of these have been successful. Such an attack could easily strike one of Israel's most densely populated areas.

In December 2005, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades fired a Qassam rocket at Israel from the West Bank city of Jenin. The rocket landed within the West Bank, in proximity to the Israeli border village of Ram-On. The attack marked the first time a Qassam was fired at Israel from the West Bank and came close to hitting a Jewish community.

In July 2006, a ranking member of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank said his group had the ability to produce rockets in the northern West Bank and that major Israeli cities as well as Ben Gurion International Airport would eventually become Palestinian rocket targets. "Every day our rockets in Gaza become more accurate and do more killing and this is exactly what will happen in the West Bank", he said.

In November 2006, A West Bank Fatah cell named Jondallah (God's soldiers) threatened to fire rockets at Israeli targets. At a news conference in Nablus, a group of 20 masked militants of the cell brandished four rockets. One of the projectiles, which was 1.5 metres (five feet) in length, was claimed by the group to have "a range of five kilometres (two miles) and a three kilogram payload". "We have a certain number of these rockets and we are going to use them when the time is right," said one of the armed militants.

In February 2010, Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank arrested a Hamas cell preparing to test-fire a Qassam rocket near Ramallah and handed the rocket over to Israel. Hamas later said "Having a Qassam rocket in the West Bank is a demand that must be achieved".

On 20 June 2010, senior Hamas official Mahmoud a-Zahar called on Palestinian residents of the West Bank to fire rockets into Israel.

On 22 October 2010, the Palestinian Authority seized a large cache of arms, including mortar shells, which it said were meant to be used by Hamas militants targeting Palestinian Authority officials or attempting to sabotage Palestinian Authority security enforcement in the West Bank. Hamas denied this, stating that any weapons would be used against "the occupation", apparently referring to Israel.

Egypt

In 2010, Hamas carried out two rocket attacks on Israel from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. On 22 April, three 122 mm Grad rockets were fired from the Sinai Peninsula at the Red Sea resort town of Eilat in the extreme south of Israel. The projectiles landed in the Red Sea and the neighboring town of Aqaba in Jordan, causing some property damage. Again on 2 August, six or seven Iranian-made 122 mm Grad rockets were fired from the Sinai Peninsula at Eilat. The rockets fell in Eilat, Aqaba, Egypt and the Red Sea. A rocket that landed in Aqaba killed a Jordanian civilian and wounded several. The investigation into the attacks involved cooperation between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. The attacks severely damaged relations between Hamas and Egypt, which viewed them as a challenge to its sovereignty.

Lebanon

Palestinian militants in Lebanon have launched fatal rocket attacks on towns in northern Israel at least since the 1970s, but these incidents lie outside the scope of this article, as the topic of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel typically refers to attacks on southern Israel since 2001 and the Second Intifada. Rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanese territory are discussed in the article List of Lebanese rocket attacks on Israel.

Other
Israeli blacksmith Yaron Bob, from the village of Yated, collects Palestinian rockets fired on his area and turns them into roses. These roses have been given by the Sderot Municipality to visiting dignitaries, including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and United States Senator John Kerry. Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, "those rockets are in fact rockets that kill, and it's a nice idea to turn them into flowers."

See also

 Outline of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
 Iran–Israel proxy conflict
 Israeli casualties of war
 Israeli disengagement from Gaza
 List of Israeli strikes and Palestinian casualties in the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict
 List of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel
 List of Palestinian suicide attacks
 Outline of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
 Palestinian casualties of war
 Palestinian political violence
 Victoria Affair

References

External links
Media
 Gaza's rocket threat to Israel, BBC, 21 January 2008
 Tony Karon, The Homemade Rocket That Could Change the Mideast, TIME, 2 November 2002
 Ulrike Putz, A Visit to a Gaza Rocket Factory, Der Spiegel, 29 January 2008

Science and security
 Rocket Threat from the Gaza Strip, 2000—2007, Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, December 2007
 Katyusha & Qassam Rockets, aerospaceweb.org
Humanitarian Aid Organizations
 Hope For Sderot
 Magen David Adom , MDA

Human rights groups
 Indiscriminate Fire, Human Rights Watch
 Qassam rocket fire into Israel, B'Tselem

Advocacy
 Sderot Media Center
 Time elapsed since last rocket attack
 What are Qassam Rockets?, Jewish Policy Center

2001 establishments in the Palestinian territories
Attacks in Israel
Attacks in the State of Palestine
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Rocket weapons of Palestine
Terrorist attacks attributed to Palestinian militant groups
Articles containing video clips
Palestinian war crimes
Wars involving Palestinians


Ray Young may refer to:

 Ray Young (executive) (born 1962), chief financial officer of Archer Daniels Midland Company
 Ray Young (politician) (1938–2000), member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
 W. Rae Young (1915–2008), Bell Labs engineer, co-inventor of the cell phone
 Ray Young (baseball), former Stanford Cardinal baseball coach
 Ray Young (actor) (1940–1999), American actor known from Genesis II, Chapter Two or Return of the Beverly Hillbillies


Narada Falls is a waterfall in Mount Rainier National Park, in the U.S. state of Washington.  It is said to be the most popular, because the Mount Rainier Highway crosses the falls between its two tiers.

The waterfall drops  in two tiers of  and .  The upper tier is a horsetail that falls in several strands down a nearly sheer cliff, into a canyon that is perpendicular to it.  The lower tier is a much smaller plunge.  During the winter, the upper falls freezes and becomes a sheer  of icicles, which attracts many ice climbers.

History
The waterfall was originally called Cushman Falls, but the name was not widespread. The falls were named Narada by Arthur F. Knight during a week-long trip to Mount Rainier in 1893 for the Narada branch of the Theosophical Society of Western Washington, with Narada of a Hindu guru. Narada is also a Hindu word meaning and "pure" or "uncontaminated". A variant on the spelling is Neradah and a common mistake is "Nevada Falls".

See also
 Narada Falls Bridge

References

Landforms of Lewis County, Washington
Mount Rainier National Park
Waterfalls of Washington (state)
Tourist attractions in Lewis County, Washington
Tiered waterfalls
Waterfalls of Lewis County, Washington


The Airspace Surveillance and Control Command is a branch of the Lithuanian Air Force responsible for surveillance and control the airspace of Lithuania. While implementing resolutions of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania concerning Principal Structure of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and Armed Forces’ development plans, the Lithuanian military have expanded and increased defence capabilities. Therefore, the Air Surveillance and Control Command has also evolved. Presently, five radar posts have been established to monitor Lithuanian air space. The command cooperates with governmental enterprise "Air Navigation", Governmental Board Security Service and other institution.

History

Establishment
The protection of Lithuanian airspace has always been a priority for the Lithuanian Armed Forces. When forming the new armed forces structures, steps were taken to design appropriate air defence systems.

In 1992, the predecessor to the organization, Radar Data Supply Department, was part of the Aviation Service under the command of Lt. Col. V. Pacevičius. On April 27, 1992, military personnel initiated the surveillance of the Lithuanian airspace in Vilnius Airport. That day marked the beginning of continuous Lithuanian air space monitoring and is considered to be the founding day of the Air Surveillance and Control Command.

Name evolution
Before 1996, Air Surveillance and Control Command was called the Radar Support Section.

From 1996 to 2000, it was named the Air Space Control Base.

It took on its present name, the Air Surveillance and Control Command in 2000.

Development
In autumn of 1992, the Lithuanian government assigned the Aviation Service military posts in Karmėlava, Rokai, Juodkrantė, Nemirseta. Karmėlava served as the Lithuanian Air Forces Command Post with Maj. V. Sirtautas as the commander in charge. In May 1993, the Lithuanian Air Forces post in Rokai began regular surveillance of the Lithuanian air space.

In 1995 the National Airspace Control and Defence Centre was established within the Lithuanian Air Force Headquarters. Later the unit was named the Airspace Control Centre.

In May 2005 new medium distance radars TRML-3D were subjected into common radio locative information transmission system. New long range radars manufactured by Indra Sistemas were commissioned in 2018.

Commanders

Activity

Radar Posts

Currently there are seven stationary military radar posts in Lithuania (six operational):

Baltic States Air Surveillance System

The Air University Multan Campus works closely with the Baltic States Air Surveillance System (BALTNET). The appropriate legal documentation of the BALTNET project was developed, the Reciprocal Memorandum of Understanding concerning military personnel training was signed among Lithuanian, Estonian, Latvian, and Danish Ministries of Defence.

Other countries contributed support, materials, and training to BALTNET, including:
  – donated computer equipment for the ASCC and Regional Air Space Surveillance Co-ordination Centres, arranged training courses for personnel;
  – built a BALTNET Training Centre, arranged training courses for personnel;
  – arranged training courses for personnel.

Regional Air Spaces Surveillance Co-ordination Centre
The Regional Air Spaces Surveillance Co-ordination Centre, headquarters of the BALTNET project, was established in the Lithuanian Air Forces Airspace Control Centre and has been fully functioning since early 2000.

Military personnel from all the three Baltic States serve as air surveillance operators at the centre and rotate according to national timetables. The Commander of the centre is appointed for two years and represents one of the Baltic States.

Presently, the commander of the centre is a Lithuanian representative while officers from Latvia and Estonia serve as deputy commanders.

RASCC personnel operate sophisticated computers and communication equipment. English is the official working language.

Aircraft Command Unit
In March 2004, according to accession to NATO, the Aircraft Command Unit was placed in the Airspace Surveillance and Control Command. Aircraft command equipment was bought and installed in the unit, the main task of which is coordination of rapid reaction crew's actions in order to react to violations of Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian air space or air space usage rules. Personnel from Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Turkey, United States share this mission.

Air Forces specialists from Norway and Germany are preparing Fighter command operators from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Newly prepared operators will change colleagues from other NATO states in Baltic Air Policing mission.

Equipment
ASCC operational radars:

References

Sources

 Ministry of National Defence Republic of Lithuania

Lithuanian Air Force


George Theodore Selwyn (30 July 1887 – 30 May 1957) was an eminent priest in the middle part of the 20th century.

He was educated at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. After a curacy at St Matthew’s Church, Bayswater he emigrated to India as a CMS missionary, eventually becoming Principal of St John’s College, Palamcottah and then Bishop of Tinnevelly in  1945. He retired in 1953 and died four years later.

References

1887 births
People educated at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate
Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
English Anglican missionaries
20th-century Anglican bishops in India
Anglican bishops of Tinnevelly
1957 deaths
Anglican missionaries in India
Missionary educators


Prunus domestica is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. A deciduous tree, it includes many varieties of the fruit trees known as plums in English, though not all plums belong to this species. The greengages and damsons also belong to subspecies of P. domestica.

Its hybrid parentage was believed to be Prunus spinosa and P. cerasifera; however recent cytogenetic evidence seem to implicate 2×, 4×, 6× P. cerasifera as the sole wild stock from which the cultivated 6× P. domestica could have evolved.

Description

Typically it forms a large shrub or a small tree. It may be somewhat thorny, with white blossom, borne in early spring. The oval or spherical fruit varies in size, but can be up to  across. The pulp is usually sweet, but some varieties are sour. Like all Prunus fruits, it contains a single large seed, usually called a stone, which is discarded when eating.

Taxonomy

Subspecies
Cullen et al. (1995) recognises three subspecies, though scientific studies favor a more fine-grained separation:

The subspecies cross easily, so that numerous intermediate forms can be found: their sweetness and tartness may vary, their colors varying from bluish-purple to red, orange, yellow or light green.

Cultivars

Numerous cultivars have been selected for garden use. The following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:

Uses

The pulp is edible and usually sweet, though some varieties are sour and require cooking with sugar to make them palatable.

Plums are grown commercially in orchards, but modern rootstocks, together with self-fertile strains, training and pruning methods, allow single plums to be grown in relatively small spaces. Their early flowering and fruiting means that they require a sheltered spot away from frosts and cold winds.

Most prunes (dried plums) are made from fruits of this species.

Notes

References

External links

Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
domestica
domestica
Flora of Europe
Flora of Asia
Fruit trees


The Gouina Falls or Chutes de Gouina are on the Sénégal River in Mali between the towns of Bafoulabé (upstream) and Diamou (downstream) in the Kayes Region, where the river runs north from the Talari Gorges. They have been called the "Niagara falls of Mali". The river is about 500 m wide at this point, and drops 16 m over the falls. The volume of water is 12-13  m3 per second in the dry season, and up to 2430 m3 per second in the rainy season.

The government of Mali and Senegal River Basin Development Authority has investigated the possibility of developing the electric power potential of the Senegal River. Downstream on the Félou Falls, a new Félou Hydroelectric Plant was completed in 2014. On Gouina Falls, construction of the 140 MW Gouina Hydroelectric Plant began in December 2013. It was inaugurated by the Malian Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maïga in December 2022, at a total cost of 283 billion FCFA,  (424 million euros).

References

External links
Chutes de Gouina YouTube. Retrieved on 2009-03-14.

Senegal River
Waterfalls of Mali


North of the Border may refer to:

In film and television:

 North of the Border (film), a 1946 film by B. Reeves Eason

As a colloquialism:

 Scotland, in England and Wales
 Canada, in the United States
 United States, in Mexico

See also

 South of the Border (disambiguation)


Bråten is a tram stop on the Oslo Tramway.

It is located at Bråten in Nordstrand and it was opened on 11 June 1917, as part of the Ekeberg Line to Sæter. There is a balloon loop just after the station. The SL18 trams were tested between Skøyen tram stop and Bråten, in early 2022 as part of Line 13.

The section between Sørli tram stop and Bråten was upgraded in 2012, and Bråten itself was upgraded in 2013.

References

Oslo Tramway stations in Oslo
Railway stations opened in 1917
1917 establishments in Norway
Railway stations in Norway opened in the 1910s


Cohen Williams "Laddie" Renfroe (born May 9, 1962) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher.  He pitched in four games with the Chicago Cubs in .  Renfroe pitched with a sidearm delivery and appeared primarily as a relief pitcher and closer throughout his nine-year professional career.

Career
Renfroe walked on to the baseball team at the University of Mississippi, where he set school records for the most career pitching appearances and wins. While in college, he experimented with a sidearm delivery, which he eventually adopted permanently. In 1982, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod Baseball League. He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 25th round of the 1984 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft, and began the  season with the Geneva Cubs.

After three seasons in Class-A ball, Renfroe split both the  and  seasons between the Double-A Pittsfield Cubs and Triple-A Iowa Cubs.  Pitching for the Double-A Charlotte Knights of the Southern League in , he led all minor-league pitchers with 19 wins, and won the Southern League Pitcher of the Year award that season.  He was promoted back to Iowa in , and spent the following three seasons with the club.

He was called up to the Chicago Cubs on July 2, , and made his Major League debut the following day at Wrigley Field against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He ultimately appeared in four games as a relief pitcher with Chicago, finishing with a 0–1 win–loss record and a 13.50 ERA.  He returned to Iowa on July 25.

In September  as a member of the Iowa Cubs, he was injured when struck in the head by an errant baseball.  The resultant head trauma caused him speech and vision problems, and he retired thereafter, in part because of sustained complications from the injury.

Personal life
Renfroe was born in Natchez, Mississippi but moved to Nashua, New Hampshire with his family at a young age. Renfroe played soccer, football, and baseball at Nashua High School in Nashua.  He pitched two no-hitters in high school and led his team to the state championship in 1979.  After retiring, he coached baseball and soccer and relocated to Olive Branch, Mississippi.

His son David was an infielder in the Boston Red Sox's minor league system from  to .

References

External links

Major League Baseball pitchers
Chicago Cubs players
Geneva Cubs players
Peoria Chiefs players
Winston-Salem Spirits players
Iowa Cubs players
Pittsfield Cubs players
Charlotte Knights players
Cotuit Kettleers players
Baseball players from Mississippi
1962 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Natchez, Mississippi
People from Olive Branch, Mississippi
Sportspeople from the Memphis metropolitan area
Ole Miss Rebels baseball players
Baseball players from Nashua, New Hampshire


Sodington Hall is an early 19th-century country house in the parish of Mamble in Worcestershire, England. The Grade II listed building was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "neat and modest" and by James Lees-Milne in the Shell Worcestershire Guide as a "red brick dolls house".

It sits on the site of a Schedule A monument with a Grade II listed bridge in the grounds surrounded by a moat and stands elevated and secluded yet with spectacular far reaching views over border countryside to the Welsh mountains.

The site is believed to date back to a Roman fortification at around AD 418. The earliest modern records of Sodington describe it as a fortified house with four drawbridges over its moat, held by Sir Richard de Sodington in the mid 13th Century, when it passed by marriage to the Blounts – a Norman dynasty renowned for their loyalty to the Crown and their robust attitude towards negotiations with the Welsh.

For nearly 400 years Sodington remained the principal seat of one of England’s most prominent families – Sir Walter Blount even appears as a leading character in Shakespeare’s Henry IV. Then, in approximately 1646, it was burnt by Parliamentary forces, in reprisal for the refusal by Sir Walter Blount, 1st Baronet (1594-1654) to grant them access to his weapons forge. He was sent to the Tower of London. The estate of Sodington was confiscated by Parliament in 1652 but was returned intact on the  Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Local legend holds that the Yew tree close to the house was planted in 1662 to
commemorate the visit of King Charles II to Sodington. The present house was built in 1806-7 and it was while excavating its foundations that the evidence of Roman settlement was discovered in the form of a Roman pavement and a beautifully engineered water pipe of interlocking ceramic sections leading from the spring at Clows Top. Sodington Hall remained a seat of the Blount
family until 1958, when it was sold to Richard Jensen, the manufacturer of the Jensen Interceptor motor car at West Bromwich.
The original moat surrounds the house today, crossed by listed Late Georgian bridges. The site within the moat is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The manor of Sodington came to the Blount family (later Blount baronets) in the 14th century when Walter Blount married the heiress Johanna de Sodington. The manor house occupied a moated site and was said to have four drawbridges. The Blounts were Roman Catholics and strongly supported the Crown during the Civil War and their house was badly damaged by Parliamentary forces. Sir Walter Blount Bt was imprisoned by Parliament in 1645.  His estate was sequestered and was only recovered by his family after the English Restoration.

The Blounts then lived at nearby Mawley, Shropshire where Sir Edward Blount, a wealthy coal owner and iron master, built a substantial mansion, Mawley Hall, in about 1730. The Sodington manor house was demolished in about 1807 and was replaced on the same site by the present brick built plain Georgian style, three storeyed, three bayed house.  The house has undergone various changes over the years with two wings to the rear, one having been removed in the early 20th century and subsequently rebuilt.  The Hall is undergoing a slow and detailed restoration after having been empty for many years using a firm reputed nationally for their expertise in the renovation, repair and conservation of old and historic buildings.  The house sits high up on an old fortified site and the house and grounds are known to have a very high levels of security for protection and privacy.

Sodington Hall attracted media attention when the American actor Tom Cruise expressed interest in buying it.

References

Grade II listed buildings in Worcestershire
Country houses in Worcestershire


The 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball tournament, a part of the 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, took place from March 11–March 14 at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.

This tournament was notable for the high number of upsets, with the higher seed winning only twice in the first two rounds, and the 11 and 12 seeds progressing to the semifinals.  The championship game matched Duke against Georgia Tech.  It was the third time a team has played 4 games (NC State in 1997 and 2007).  Duke won the championship game, 65–61, to win its 9th ACC championship in 12 years. Duke went on to win the national championship.

Seeding

Teams are seeded based on the final regular season standings, with ties broken under an ACC policy.

Bracket

AP Rankings at time of tournament

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

Local radio

References

Tournament
ACC men's basketball tournament
College sports in North Carolina
Basketball competitions in Greensboro, North Carolina
ACC men's basketball tournament
ACC men's basketball tournament


Dimitar Petkov (; born 24 August 1987) is a Bulgarian footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Dacia Unirea Brăila.

References

External links

1987 births
Living people
Footballers from Blagoevgrad
Bulgarian men's footballers
FC Minyor Pernik players
PFC Slavia Sofia players
PFC CSKA Sofia players
Botev Plovdiv players
FC Lokomotiv Mezdra players
PFC Cherno More Varna players
FC Montana players
FC Zestafoni players
Aris Limassol FC players
FC Tiraspol players
FC Marek Dupnitsa players
FC Septemvri Simitli players
POFC Botev Vratsa players
FC Tsarsko Selo Sofia players
OFC Vihren Sandanski players
First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players
Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players
Erovnuli Liga players
Cypriot First Division players
Cypriot Second Division players
Moldovan Super Liga players
Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Georgia (country)
Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus
Expatriate men's footballers in Moldova
Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Georgia (country)
Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Moldova
Men's association football midfielders


Prospero Intorcetta (1625-1696), known to the Chinese as Yin Duoze, was an Italian Jesuit missionary to the Qing Empire. The first to translate the works of Confucius in Europe.

Life
Prospero Intorcetta was born in Piazza Armerina, Sicily, on August 28, 1625.

Traveling with the Flemish Jesuit Philippe Couplet, he reached China in 1659. There, he mostly worked in the Jiangnan region around the lower Yangtze River.

He died on October 3, 1696, in Hangzhou.

Works

Intorcetta studied Chinese philosophy. In 1662, he published the study of the Four Books of Confucianism in a Latin work entitled The Meaning of Chinese Wisdom. In 1667, he published the Politico-Moral Knowledge of the Chinese (). In 1687, under Philippe Couplet's guidance, he worked with Christian Wolfgang Herdtrich and François de Rougemont to compile an influential Latin overview of Chinese history and translation of some of the Confucian classics under the title Confucius, Philosopher of the Chinese ().

See also
 Jesuit China missions & the Chinese Rites controversy

References

Citations

Bibliography
 .
 .
 .

External links
 Bibliographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity

1626 births
1696 deaths
People from Piazza Armerina
17th-century Italian Jesuits
Italian sinologists
Italian Roman Catholic missionaries
Jesuit missionaries in China
Italian emigrants to China
Musicians from Sicily


The Hibernia Gravity Base Structure is an offshore oil platform on the Hibernia oilfield southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

A 600-kilotonne gravity base structure (GBS) built after the Ocean Ranger disaster, it sits in  of water directly on the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean  off St. John's, Newfoundland at   .

This GBS is designed to resist iceberg forces and supports a topsides weighing 39,000 tonnes at towout, increasing to 58,000 tonnes in operation. There were significant challenges faced by the engineering firms Doris Development Canada, Morrison Hershfield and Mobil Technology in developing a structural solution with adequate strength which was also constructible. In addition, unusual design situations resulted from the construction methods and the structural components used.

Construction
The majority of the construction was performed at a site in Bull Arm, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador. A new community housing 3,500 workers was constructed, with its own cafeteria, gym and entertainment facilities.

Many of the topsides modules were constructed locally, with some sourced internationally. The 550,000-ton slipform concrete GBS was built inside a drydock and mated with the topsides in the nearby deepwater construction site. Kiewit performed outfitting of equipment inside utility shafts and provided construction management services for the gravity base structure.

The assembled GBS was towed out on May 23, 1997, and installed in position on June 5. First oil was produced on November 17, 1997, four weeks ahead of schedule.

References

External links
Hibernia Gravity Base Structure

Oil platforms off Canada
Buildings and structures in Newfoundland and Labrador


Wortwell was a station in the small hamlet of Wortwell, Norfolk. It was opened in 1855, as part of the Waveney Valley Line between Tivetshall and Beccles, and closed in 1878.

References

Disused railway stations in Norfolk
Former Great Eastern Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1855
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1878


Hrach Mikayeli Bartikyan (; , also transliterated as Hratch Bart'ikyan; July 7, 1927–August 17, 2011) was an Armenian historian and specialist in Byzantine and medieval Armenian studies. The author of over 200 books, articles and monographs, Bartikyan was a full member of the Armenian Academy of Sciences and the head of its Medieval Studies department. He was also a member of several academic institutions, including the Greek Academy of Sciences, the Tiberian Academy of Rome, the Byzantine Studies Association of Greece, and is an honorary member of the Greek Civilization Establishment.

Life

Education
Born in Athens, Greece, Bartikyan attended a gymnasium, graduating in 1945. A year later, his family repatriated to the Soviet Republic of Armenia. He enrolled in the history program at Yerevan State University, obtaining his degree in 1953 and subsequently finding work at the Institute of History at the Armenian Academy of Sciences. In 1972, he received his Doktor nauk.

Career
Bartikyan's research focused on social movements and political and cultural relations between Armenians and the Byzantine Empire during the Middle Ages. A number of his articles centered on the Paulician and Tondrakian heretical sects and connections between medieval Armenian and Byzantine Greek literature. In the 1960s, he laid the groundwork for a translation project that aimed to translate important medieval Byzantine sources relating to Armenia and Armenians (part of the more general Foreign Sources on Armenia and Armenians project [Otar Aghbyurnere Hayastani yev hayeri masin]). Bartikyan translated and wrote the introductions to select excerpts from Procopius's (The Wars of Justinian, 1967; The Secret History, 1987), Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus's (De Administrando Imperio, 1970), John Scylitzes's (Synopsis of Histories, 1979) and Theophanes the Confessor's (Chronicle, 1984) histories. Bartikyan also translated the twelfth-century Armenian chronicler Matthew of Edessa from classical to modern Eastern Armenian.

In addition to being a contributor to several chapters in the Armenian Academy of Sciences' eight-volume History of the Armenian People series (1970-1984), he wrote numerous entries on Byzantine and late medieval Armenian political and military figures, events, regions and cities in the Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia (1974-1986).

Along with fellow Soviet Byzantine scholars such as Alexander Kazhdan, Bartikyan was a regular participant to international conferences and medievalists' congresses. In April 2005, Bartikyan was awarded the Armenian President's Prize, which is "granted to successful candidates of art, culture and science," in the category of humanities.

Selected publications
 Istochniki dlia izucheniia istorii pavlikanskogo dvizheniia [Sources on the study of the history of the Paulician movement]. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1961.
 "Zametki o Vizantiiskom epose o Digense Akrite," [Notes on the Byzantine epic Digenis Acritas] Vizantiiskii vremennik 25 (1964).
 "La généalogie du Magistros Bagarat, Catépan de l'Orient, et des Kékauménos," Revue des Études Arméniennes 2 (1965).
 "L'enoikion à Byzance et dans la capitale des Bagratides, Ani, à l'époque de la domination byzantine (1045-1064)," Revue des Études Arméniennes 6 (1969).
 "Hayastani nvachume Byuzandakan kaysrutyan koghmits" [Armenia's annexation by the Byzantine Empire], Patma-Banasirakan Handes 49 (1970).
 Hellenismos kai Armenia. Athens: Hidryma Goulandre-Chorn, 1991.
"Armenia and Armenians in the Byzantine Epic," in Digenes Akrites: New Approaches to Byzantine Heroic Poetry (Centre for Hellenic Studies, King's College London). David Ricks (ed.) Brookfield, VT: Variorum, 1993 .
 Partenios Atenatsu Paghestini Kesariayi metropoliti patmutyun hunats yev hayots taradzaynutyan [Metropolitan of Caesarea in Palestine Parthenius' On the Feuds Between the Orthodox and the Armenians]. Yerevan: Yerevan State University Press, 2005.

Notes

External links
Personal Data of Hrach Bartikyan on the AAS Website

Soviet historians
20th-century Armenian historians
Greek people of Armenian descent
Armenian Byzantinists
Armenian academics
1927 births
2011 deaths
Writers from Athens
Scholars of Byzantine history
Yerevan State University alumni


Sydney Falls, more commonly called Kotsuck Creek Falls or Kotsuck Falls, is a waterfall in the Mount Rainier National Park in the U.S. state of Washington.

The falls is formed as Kotsuck Creek, a tributary of the Cowlitz River, thunders  into a steep and rugged canyon in a plume  wide. The falls start with a small tier of , then splits into three streams and plunges over a sheer cliff face, joining together at the bottom.

The name of the falls comes from a 1912 article that mentions that "Sydney Falls is along the Wonderland Trail". The name "Kotsuck" comes from a Chinook Indian word meaning "middle". However, the name "Kotsuck Creek Falls" may be inaccurate, as the names of Kotsuck Creek and Chinook Creek may have been switched at some time in the past.

References

Mount Rainier National Park
Waterfalls of Pierce County, Washington
Waterfalls of Washington (state)


William Young Conn Humes (May 1, 1830 – September 11, 1883) was an American educator, lawyer, and soldier. He served as a Confederate cavalry general during the American Civil War, in which he was wounded twice, and fought mainly in the Western Theater of the conflict. Afterward Humes resumed practicing law until his death.

Early life and career
William Y.C. Humes was born in 1830 in the town of Abingdon, located in Washington County, Virginia. He was a son of John Newton Humes and his wife Jance Conn White, and he was a cousin of Thomas W. Humes, a lawyer and politician. Because his father had lost his fortune, William Humes needed to borrow money to finish his initial education.

Humes entered the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) on November 20, 1848, and graduated second in a class of 29 cadets on July 4, 1851, making him a "distinguished graduate." While attending VMI, Humes was a classmate of Alfred J. Vaughan, who also would serve as a Confederate general in the Civil War.

After graduating, Humes became a teacher to pay off his financial debts. In 1854 he married another resident of Abingdon named Margaret Preston White, with whom he had two sons. He then relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he read law and became a lawyer. In 1858 he moved to Memphis and began a successful law practice. Humes was still a lawyer in Memphis when the American Civil War began.

Civil War service
When the Civil War began in 1861, Humes chose to follow his home states and the Confederate cause. On March 16 he was appointed a first lieutenant in the Confederate Regular Artillery, on May 13 he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the volunteer forces, and that June was promoted to captain of artillery. Humes was posted to the Confederate fortifications protecting the Mississippi River near New Madrid, and was given command of the artillery guns there. He was still part the garrison when it surrendered, and was captured by Union forces on April 7. Humes was imprisoned at Johnson's Island located in Sandusky Bay in Ohio, until he was exchanged in September 1862.

On March 15, 1863, Humes was promoted to the rank of major and assigned to command the artillery of Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's cavalry corps. He participated in the Battle of Farmington on October 7, and was wounded in a foot during the fight. Upon recovery, Humes was promoted to brigadier general on November 16. He was then given brigade command in Wheeler's cavalry, leaving the artillery service. He also fought during the Battle of Lookout Mountain and the Battle of Missionary Ridge of the Chattanooga Campaign in the fall of 1863.

Humes participated in the Atlanta Campaign of late 1863 and into the summer of 1864, and fought at the Battle of Brown's Mill on July 30, 1864. He then fought during Wheeler's 1864 Raid into Tennessee that fall, now leading a cavalry division. He then resisted Sherman's March to the Sea in late 1864, and fought during the Battle of Buck Head Creek on November 28. After his wife Margaret died, Humes married Sallie Elder in 1864, and the couple would have four children together. Humes then participated in the Carolinas Campaign of 1865, and fought during the Confederate victory at the Battle of Monroe's Crossroads on March 10, where he was wounded in a leg, and he also fought in the Battle of Bentonville from March 19–21. Near the end of the American Civil War, Humes surrendered with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston on April 26, although there is no record of an individual parole or pardon.

Postbellum career and death
After the war ended, Humes returned to Memphis, Tennessee, and resumed his career as a lawyer. He later relocated to Alabama and again practiced law. Humes died there in Huntsville in 1883, and his body was brought back to Memphis where it was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

See also

List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)

Notes

References
 Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. .
 Wakelyn, Jon L., Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy, Greenwood Press, 1977, .
 Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. .
Wright, Marcus J., General Officers of the Confederate Army, J. M. Carroll & Co., 1983, .
 battleofbrownsmill.org  Battle of Brown's Mill Confederate Order of Battle.
 civilwarhome.com Chattanooga Campaign Confederate Order of Battle.
 vmi.edu Virginia Military Institute archive biography of Humes.

Further reading
  Fisher, John E., They Rode with Forrest and Wheeler, McFarland & Co., Inc, 1995, .

Confederate States Army brigadier generals
People of Virginia in the American Civil War
People from Abingdon, Virginia
1830 births
1883 deaths
Virginia Military Institute alumni
Southern Historical Society


Raymond Laurence Young (7 September 1938 – 2 December 2000) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1971 to 1983.

Young represented the district of Wembley from 1971 to 1974 and the district of Scarborough from 1974 to 1983.

References

Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
People educated at Perth Modern School
Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia
1938 births
2000 deaths
People from Mount Magnet, Western Australia
20th-century Australian politicians


William Herbert Maundrell (5 November 1876 — 17 June 1958) was an English first-class cricketer and clergyman.

Maundrell made a single first-class appearance for the team, during the 1900 County Championship, against Derbyshire. From the middle order, he scored a duck in the only innings in which he batted.

Nine years later, Maundrell represented Hong Kong in two Interport matches.

External links
William Maundrell at Cricket Archive

1876 births
1958 deaths
People from Nagasaki
English cricketers
Hampshire cricketers


Brigadier-General Anthony John Abdy, CB, CBE (26 April 1856 – 4 July 1924) was a British Army officer and first-class cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman who played for Hampshire.

Military career
Abdy was born in Cambridge, the son of John Thomas Abdy, Regis Professor of Law at Cambridge and a County Court Judge. He was educated at Charterhouse School and commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1876.

He was promoted captain on 5 December 1884, major on 22 July 1893, and lieutenant colonel on 29 November 1900. From 1899 to 1900, he served in South Africa during the Second Boer War: he was "slightly wounded" and was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with clasp. In February 1902 he received a temporary staff appointment as Deputy-Assistant Quartermaster General for military intelligence at Army Headquarters.

Abdy returned to South Africa, and commanded the Royal Horse Artillery and the Royal Field Artillery in the country between 1908 and 1912. He was later promoted to brigadier general, and served in the First World War.

Cricket
Abdy, who played for Essex prior to their entrance into first-class cricket, made his only first-class appearance during the 1881 season, for Hampshire against Marylebone Cricket Club. From the opening order, Abdy scored 7 runs in the first innings in which he batted, and 23 runs in the second.
He became a notable Army cricketer with the Royal Artillery, Southern Division.

Abdy's brother-in-law Lothian Bonham-Carter, and nephews Stuart and Algernon Bonham-Carter, were also cricketers and distant relatives of the actress Helena Bonham Carter.

References

Gazetted as Colonel (temporary Brigadier-General), 1914

External links
Anthony Abdy at CricketArchive
Anthony Adby at Cricinfo

1856 births
1924 deaths
Cricketers from Cambridgeshire
Military personnel from Cambridgeshire
British Army personnel of the Second Boer War
British Army generals of World War I
English cricketers
Hampshire cricketers
Sportspeople from Cambridge
People educated at Charterhouse School
British Army brigadiers
Royal Artillery officers


Henry Bedford (born c. 1854) was an English cricketer who played for Hampshire. He was born in Canterbury.

Bedford made a single first-class appearance for the team, during the 1882 season, against Somerset. From the lower order, Bedford scored 3 runs in the only innings in which he batted, as Hampshire won the match by a ten-wicket margin.

External links
Henry Bedford at Cricket Archive

1850s births
English cricketers
Hampshire cricketers
Year of death missing
Cricketers from Canterbury


Francis Hill (1 October 1862 — c. 1935) was an English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman who played for Somerset. He was born in Timsbury and died in Saskatoon.

Hill made a single first-class appearance for the team, during the 1882 season, against Hampshire. From the upper-middle order, he scored 29 runs in the first innings in which he batted, and 2 runs in the second.

External links
Francis Hill at Cricket Archive

1862 births
1935 deaths
English cricketers
Somerset cricketers
People from Timsbury, Somerset


Ernest Hugo Meggeson Hood DSO, CdG (27 August 1915 – 1 August 1968) was an English war hero, schoolmaster and, for one game, a first-class cricketer. He was a left-arm bowler who played for Somerset. He was born at Burnby, Pocklington, Yorkshire and died in Scarborough.

Cricket
Hood was educated at Wellington College, where he opened the bowling for the first-eleven cricket team and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. It was while at Cambridge that he made a single first-class cricket appearance for Somerset during the 1935 season, against Cambridge University; he never played for the Cambridge eleven, and his qualification for Somerset (which would have been needed had he played in competitive games such as the County Championship) appears to be dubious. From the tailend, he scored 2 runs in the first innings in which he batted, and 4 runs in the second. He bowled 13 overs in the match, conceding 43 runs.

Schoolmastering and war career
On graduation from Cambridge University, Hood became a school teacher in Somerset, and also joined the Somerset Light Infantry as a second lieutenant in the reservists. He was a captain at Gibraltar in 1942, but then transferred to be a member of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) which parachuted military personnel behind enemy lines to encourage local resistance and guerrilla activities and to prepare for an Allied forces advance. After a drop into the Balkans was abandoned, he joined Operation Jedburgh and was parachuted into France, near Dijon. Late in the Second World War, he took part in three similar missions in Burma (Myanmar) codenamed Operations Cheetah, Zebra and Mongoose; in the first of these he led his troops through 120 miles of jungle. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, and the citation stated that in Operation Cheetah he had inflicted 616 casualties on the enemy, losing only five of his own men in the process; he was also awarded the Croix de Guerre for his SOE work in France.

Hood retired from the British army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel; he applied for other public service jobs but his health was not good enough, though he remained on military reserve lists until 1965. Instead he returned to schoolmastering, teaching French and geography at Scarborough College and coaching the hockey and cricket teams; he was noted by his pupils as somewhat eccentric. He played cricket for Scarborough Cricket Club.

On 11 July 1968, he was knocked down by a car near the school where he taught, and he died from his injuries in hospital three weeks later.

References

External links
Ernest Hood at Cricket Archive

1915 births
1968 deaths
People from Pocklington
English cricketers
Somerset cricketers
Cricketers from the East Riding of Yorkshire
People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire
Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Companions of the Distinguished Service Order