Sderot

Sderot (Hebrew: שְׂדֵרוֹת, Hebrew pronunciation: [sdeˈʁot], meaning: Boulevards) is a western Negev city and former development town in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), at the end of 2011 the city had a total population of 24,000. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip since 2001.

Sderot is located less than a mile from Gaza (the closest point is 840 m).Rocket attacks on the city have killed 13 Israelis, wounded dozens, caused millions of dollars in damage and profoundly disrupted daily life. Studies have found that air raid sirens and explosions have caused severe psychological trauma in some residents. At least 75 percent of children aged 4-18 in Sderot suffer from post-traumatic stress, including sleeping disorders and severe anxiety. From mid-June 2007 to mid-February 2008, 771 rockets and 857 mortar bombs were fired at Sderot and the western Negev, an average of three or four each a day. Popular for having numerous Bomb shelters some of which are built in the form of Children's Play areas in school playgrounds, Sderot is infamously referred to as The "Bomb Shelter Capital of the World."