Good Morning, It's Raining Rockets!

Last night was a rough one for me. With a raging fibro flare to accompany the early-spring storm flaunting lightning and thunder through my bedroom window, my sleep was erratic at best. So when I finally managed to plunge into deep sleep, it's no wonder nothing would wake me. Not even a Hamas rocket hitting a home just a few miles north of mine.

When @poet woke me with hugs, like she does every morning, I had no idea what had happened while I slept. She filled me in. Turns out at that at around 5:20 AM local time, the nice friendly piece-loving folks in Gaza (about 50 miles away from me) decided to gift us a rocket, and launched it at the general area of my town. 

The sirens went on, the people hurried to the bomb shelters or safe spaces (that means something completely different in Israel than is does online), and so many of us got a very early morning awakening. @mrlightning , who is very sick with sinusitis right now, decided for some reason that is was a drill, and went back to sleep.

I slept through the whole thing.

Honestly? I am happy I slept through it. My cPTSD is just barely getting trigger-less through Purim, the annual holiday of costumes and firecrackers, so this little surprise from the peace-loving folks down in Gaza could not have come at a better hour. Hell, I am sweating bricks and shivering just reading the news. But I can't help it.

So according to news agencies:

An early morning rocket, allegedly fired from the Gaza Strip, struck a home in central Israel on Monday.

The rocket attack destroyed a residential home in the community of Mishmeret, north of the city of Kfar Saba, wounding six members of the family.

(Source: Israeli Police Spokesman)

Kfar Saba is the city I live in. Fun, right? Reading the name of your town on Al Jazeera in connection with a terrorist attack? Hey, at least no humans died. Our Palestinian friends did manage to kill two of the family dogs who were asleep in the house. The family only managed to grab the baby and run out before the rocket destroyed their home, sending them all to the hospital with shrapnel wounds.

According to news agencies:

A 60-year-old woman was wounded by shrapnel and suffering burns from the rocket’s explosion, leaving her in moderate condition. A 30-year-old woman is also said to be in moderate condition after suffering shrapnel wounds. Five others are listed in light condition. 

And then they said "Whoops"

Like most humans, even those without cPTSD, my first question was "WTF?". Sure, it's a great time to terrorize the Israeli people with the elections coming up and Trump tweeting up heat in the middle east. However, the Hamas did launch two rockets at Tel Aviv ten days ago and claimed it was in error. Seriously, they just said "whoops". According to my Facebook feed, one rocket was intercepted while the other is still looking for parking because it's Tel Aviv.

So why the actual fuck are they shooting at me now?

Well, according to reports, they are once again claiming it was an accident. I shit thee not.

The Hamas sources said they believe the rocket system might have been triggered due to lightning; there was rain Sunday night in Israel.

and

Hamas leaders told Egypt, which has often served as a mediator for talks between Israel and the terror group, that the rocket fired from Gaza which struck a home in the Sharon region of central Israel had been launched by accident. Arab media outlets have reported that Hamas promised Egypt it would investigate the incident.

Do the Hamas seriously expect me or anyone to believe their rocket launching system is as sensitive to the weather as my fibro? Twice in two weeks? That is about as believable as the claim "I sent it by accident" that usually follows an unsolicited dick pick. 

If our friendly neighbors in Gaza are not aiming at murdering family pets and wounding women and babies, why are those launchers active in the first place?

Living in Israel is living in constant fear. Constant terror. We develop a kind of thick skin to these things that helps us to continue breathing this heavy middle-eastern air. We get up and start our day like nothing happened. We go to work, we blog about our feelings, but we keep on keeping on, somehow, carrying our collective PTSD like a shackle weighing down everything we do even when we don't feel it.

I am glad I slept through the "boom" that woke most of the citizens in the center of Israel. It's bad enough I need to be awake for the long-term fallout in the months to come. It's bad enough knowing this photo was taken too close to my home.