At around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening, one of the hundreds of rockets fired by Hamas terrorists at central Israel, fell on the west side of CHW Hadassim Children and Youth Village. Although the rocket fell in an open space, and thankfully no one was injured, it was close enough (50 metres) to the “Ela” Family Unit (Mishpachton), to cause significant damage to the structure. Additional, but less severe damage, was caused to a second family unit, called “Rakefet”, and to several staff apartments. The rocket caused significant damage as you can see from a few photos below.
When the warning sirens sounded, alerting to imminent rocket fire, the foster parents, staff, and students followed the correct procedures, which they had been taught in advance, and immediately evacuated the family unit and found safety in the nearest bomb shelter. This ensured the safety of everyone involved.
These two family units are foster frameworks for children, who have been removed by welfare authorities from the homes of their biological parents, and live and grow up at CHW Hadassim. Each unit has 10 children, aged 12-14, as well as a pair of foster parents for each unit. The children in the more heavily damaged unit were evacuated and spent the night in other dormitories on the grounds of CHW Hadassim. The children in the other unit returned and spent the night in their own beds once it was safe to do so.
CHW Hadassim professional staff, including psychologists and social workers, are providing therapeutic support to the children and monitoring them closely.
