A mortar shell landed May 29 in the yard of the Shibolim preschool in one of the kibbutzim bordering the Gaza Strip. The shell hit a eucalyptus tree, which provided shade to the playground, and exploded in the yard. The incident happened half an hour before the young children were supposed to go out into the yard to play. Because the preschool is so close to Gaza, the children and their caregivers are given just 7-12 seconds of warning whenever Hamas or Islamic Jihad fire rockets. Often the “red alert” alarm coincides with the shells’ impact. At other times, the sirens go off a few seconds after a shell has already landed. Had they hit the preschool this time, Gaza would now be engulfed in the flames of war. An event like this is a real nightmare scenario for Israel because the cost is so simple to calculate: War! Now! Israel would have invaded the Gaza Strip, this time in order to conquer it, even if it didn’t want to do that.
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot toured the region in the afternoon and paid a visit to the preschool, for which his army almost went to war. Although the shell had hit only a few hours before, almost all the children were still present. Eizenkot thought that he would encounter fear, silence or sharp criticism. Instead, the hour he spent at Shibolim was the most pleasant stop on his entire visit to the south that day. The children seemed cheerful and happy, and the staff positive. IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis later told Al-Monitor that this was “the best meeting to assess the situation that the chief of staff has had recently." He added, "There is no better way to learn about the resilience of the Israeli home front and how it stands firm, even when faced with an experience like that.”
