Defense Minister Ehud Barak following a Sunday morning security briefing announced southern Israeli areas school children will remain on Chanukah vacation indefinitely as a result of the escalation in rocket attacks in the south.

Students are being instructed to remain at home near bomb shelters and safe rooms. As of 11:00am Sunday, 11 rockets struck the southern areas during the morning hours. Baruch Hashem, there were no physical injuries. There were reports of property damage.

Area farmers are also instructed not to attempt to work in the fields on Sunday.

IDF Spokesman Brigadier-General Avi Benayahu released a statement that a total cessation in rocket attacks is not necessarily the objective at hand at present.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)