JERUSALEM – Sirens wailed just before the Jewish holiday of Shavuot began on Sunday evening, sending Chen Farag and her family once again running for cover as they have dozens of times over the past week since the latest war between Palestinian militants in Gaza and the Israeli military erupted.
The Farags live in Ashdod, Israel’s largest port on the Mediterranean coast. The city of about 225,000 people is around 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the Gaza Strip.
Six adults, two dogs and a parrot huddled in their home’s reinforced safe room — a routine precaution for hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the country's south.