Southern Israel residents scared but determined

Aside from emergency errands, residents avoid the outdoors and hunker down in their homes around the clock. Yet they still insist the military should carry on with its offensive in Gaza, to eliminate the rocket threat against them once and for all.

"We're not heroes. It's scary but we must carry on," 60-year-old Richard Atwan said Sunday, sipping a cup of coffee in the nearly vacant Negev Mall. "We're prepared to suffer now, so that it will be better in the future."

Moments earlier, a siren had sent him and a dozen others scampering to a bomb shelter for cover. Crowded inside, they gasped as a pair of explosions was heard.

Atwan's first foray from home since fighting began ended minutes later when his phone rang. "It's my son," he said. "The rocket landed near our house and he's coming to get me."

In just five days of fighting, Israel has been struck by more than 550 rockets. Gaza militants have stunned Israelis by reaching further into their homeland than ever before, including the first ever attacks on the country's two largest cities, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Three Israelis have been killed and more than 60 injured.

Israel has carried out more than 1,000 strikes against militant sites in Gaza, targeting rocket launchers, weapons depots, and the homes and offices of Hamas leaders. The attacks have killed 70 Palestinians, including 36 civilians, according to Gaza health officials.

The vast majority of the Palestinian strikes on Israel have been in the south, where 1 million residents have faced the danger for more than a decade. The frequent attacks have caused occasional casualties and constant stress. Parents say their children have been traumatized by the sounds of sirens and explosions, while daily life and commerce has been disrupted.

Beersheba's nearly 200,000 residents live just 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Gaza.

Four years ago, they were hit with some 40 rockets in a 3-week war between Israel and Hamas militants. On Saturday alone they were targeted by nearly as many. Thanks to Israel's "Iron Dome" missile defense system, which knocked down about half of the projectiles, and residents who followed instructions to stay in shelters at home, no one was harmed.

At his weekly Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the "restraint, determination and resilience" of the Israeli home front.

In his war room underneath City Hall, Mayor Ruvik Danilovich monitors the rocket strikes on interactive maps projected on giant plasma screens. More than 100 have already hit his city and he oversees a relief effort that includes military and police personnel tasked with soothing a jittery public. In just a matter of days, Danilovich has been transformed from an administrator into a general.