Rockets hit `mini-India` town in Israel

Jerusalem: Dimona, an Israeli town described as a `mini-India` by many for its 7,500-strong Indian Jewish community and home to a nuclear reactor, came under rocket attack from Palestinian militant group Hamas on Thursday.

Some of the Indians living in the town, when contacted by a news agency, said they were safe and were taking necessary precautions as advised by authorities. Yesterday, two rockets were fired on the southern town as Hamas took responsibility for the attack and declaring that it was targeting Israel`s nuclear reactor. Schools and kindergartens within 40-kilometre radius of Gaza remained close today and Israeli citizens in the area have been instructed to stay close to shelter houses. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed that two rockets fell in open areas of the Hof Hacarmel Regional Council south of Haifa, some 165 kilometres north of Gaza. It was the furthest a rocket fired from Gaza has ever travelled. Rocket alert sirens also sounded in Zichron Yaakov yesterday, some 120 kms north of the Gaza Strip, signalling that Hamas has now developed the capability to hit targets anywhere in Israel. There are about 70,000 to 80,000 people of Indian-origin in Israel most of whom live in the south of the country which is close to the conflict-ridden Gaza Strip.