Even residents of Sderot, who have become accustomed to dealing with much pain and hardship, feel the heartbreak of the cries of Esther Sheetrit, the mother of four deaf children.

She arrived at Sderot’s trauma treatment center crying “I cannot take it anymore. I have four deaf children at home. They are all in life-threatening danger. They do not hear the Color Red warning. We do not have a sealed room at home. No one will help me!”

“I have spoken to everyone and every agency I know to please place a ‘migunit’ shelter near our home. They just do not care, no one cares. What will be with my children” she lamented on the verge of total despair.

She explains her anxiety, especially since the start of Operation Cast Lead, unable to persuade any agency to assist her and her children. “My children are traumatized and they are suffering. If by chance they see people running they realize a rocket is incoming. Over the past days, rockets landed near our home a number of times and the children remained in their rooms, not seeking cover, unaware anything was taking place.”

“I fear one day I will lose one of them due to the hardened-heart policy of the city and government, unwilling to place a ‘migunit’ shelter next to our home.”

City officials explain that realizing Esther’s special situation, a request was filed with security officials but they were told there is absolutely no way a shelter can be placed at the disposal of a private individual.

In a related matter, the Homefront Command earlier in the week distributed a number of vibrating pagers to alert deaf people of rocket attacks.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)