A Hamas mortar attack on Tuesday killed two Thai workers inside a packaging plant in southern Israel and wounded 10 other people, four of them seriously, according to reports.
The foreign nationals had been working in an area that lacked the proper fortification against bombardment, a local government official said, The Times of Israel reported.
“The impact was within a community without protection, which was not included in the fortification policy and this is the terrible result we had today,” Gadi Yarkoni said, referring to a requirement for all communities near the Gaza border to have proper protection.
Under current restrictions imposed by the military, businesses in the Eshkol region also are only allowed to operate if they have ready access to bomb shelters, according to the news outlet.
An Eshkol spokesperson told the paper that the two people did have access to a portable domed bomb shelter.
A Hamas mortar attack killed two Thai workers in southern Israel on May 18, 2021. Twitter“They had a ‘bell’ shelter. I don’t yet know why they didn’t go into it,” she added.
At least 10 civilians were wounded, four of them seriously, in the barrage of more than 50 mortars, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The latest casualties occurred as footage emerged of the damage sustained by a Palestinian Health Ministry building and the Al-Remal Martyrs Clinic next door in Israeli airstrikes on Monday.
Fire and smoke rise above buildings in Gaza City as Israeli warplanes targeted a governmental building on May 18, 2021. Fatima Shbair/Getty ImagesLocal news reports said the strikes also hit the residential Al-Shawa building.
Video shot by Mohammed Dahlan shows several severely damaged buildings.
