00:00 A now common scene in the streets of Ashkelon. A rocket hit Daniel Damon's district two
00:06 days previously and the clean-up was still underway.
00:20 Ashkelon has long been the Israeli city most hit by Hamas rocket fire and things only got
00:26 worse after October 7th.
00:31 The place is a ghost town. It's really depressing. It's nothing like it was before. But thank
00:37 God we're not in Gaza. The situation is far worse for the people who were taken over there.
00:43 Just 10 kilometres or so separates the Gaza Strip from the Israeli coastal city and the
00:48 spokesperson for Hamas' armed wing specifically threatened its inhabitants in return for Israeli
00:54 bombardments of the Palestinian enclave. Some 30% of Ashkelon's population has now left.
01:01 This resident lives above an apartment, empty at the time that took a direct hit.
01:08 I'm not going to leave Ashkelon. I'm not going to some hotel. I want to stay in my own town.
01:15 I've survived without a safe room for 15 years and now I've survived this by chance.
01:24 Local authorities are now preparing for even worse violence should the Israeli military
01:29 begin its widely expected offensive into Gaza.
01:32 The invasion might impact significantly the way we act here. We are taking into consideration
01:38 that our infrastructure will be damaged significantly. We are having plans for everything, starting
01:44 from water to electricity, whatever, shelters for much more than one or two families. So
01:51 actually we are well prepared for that.
01:55 In Ashkelon's southern suburbs it's not long before we get a taste of a Hamas attack.
02:00 At the site of the Iron Dome air defence system in action.
02:10 It successfully intercepted the salvo, leaving the city to wait for the next barrage.
02:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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