What is Israel really up against? A visual reality check!

Sderot, Israel 

 Gaza strip

 The daily Reality in Sderot and in the other Southern cities of Israel.

click the picture to the view in full size.

Hamas gunmen in training. As clearly seen - Fully organized, uniform clad soldiers. Hardly the helpless citizens they portray themselves to the world as.

click the picture to the view in full size.

Photo By : Hamutal Ben shitrit , Sderot Media Center

http://www.sderotmedia.com/

10,000+

rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2001. 

3,200+

rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in 2008 alone.

6,500+

rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. 

538+

rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israeli territory during the ceasefire from June 19 to Dec. 19, 2008. 

480

rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israel since Operation Cast Lead began Dec. 27. 

28

deaths caused by rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israel since 2001. The dead include Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire ended, Iran-backed Palestinian groups in Gaza fired rockets and mortars that killed an Israeli-Arab construction worker and a mother of four who was seeking shelter in a bus station as a rocket warning siren sounded. 

1,000+

people in Israel injured from rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2001, including Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the start of Israel's defensive operation in Gaza Dec. 27, 90 Israelis have been injured and at least 244 have been treated for shock. 

20,000 

Hamas terrorists Israel is targeting as part of its defensive operations 

1,000,000

Israeli civilians Hamas is targeting and can reach. 

15

seconds Israelis have to get to a bomb shelter once a warning siren has sounded. 

8

years Israel has endured rockets and mortar fire from Gaza 

3

mosques in Gaza used as weapons, ammunitions and explosives depots that were struck by the Israel Defense Forces during the operation in Gaza. [21] The strikes occurred only at night and never during prayer times, to avoid civilian casualties.

4

UN Security Council resolutions passed since 2006 to try to stop Iran from enriching uranium. 

5,000+

number of centrifuges operating in Iran to enrich uranium, the material used to produce a nuclear weapon.

100%

proportion of the Gaza Strip evacuated and handed over to the
Palestinians. 

300

square miles of the West Bank evacuated. 

21

Israeli settlements uprooted in the Gaza Strip. 

4

Israeli settlements uprooted in the West Bank. 

48

graves uprooted in Gaza's former Gush Katif Cemetery, including six graves of area residents murdered by terrorists. 

9,000

approximate number of Israelis, including 1,700 families, who lived in Gaza and the northern West Bank. All of them were moved out as part of the withdrawal. 

38

synagogues dismantled in the Gaza Strip. 

5,000

school-age children who had to find new schools. 

42

daycare centers that were closed in the Gaza Strip. 

36

kindergartens that were closed in the Gaza Strip. 

7

elementary schools that were closed in the Gaza Strip. 

3

high schools that were closed in the Gaza Strip. 

320

mobile homes, ordered by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to serve as temporary housing for settlers. 

45,000

Israeli soldiers and policemen who participated in the Gaza withdrawal.

$1.7 billion

the approximate cost to the Israeli government for the withdrawal initiative.

166

Israeli farmers who were moved out of Gaza. 

800

cows, which comprised the second largest dairy farm in Israel, moved out of Gaza's Gush Katif community.

$120 million

value of flowers and produce exported annually from Gush Katif and lost following the evacuation. 

1

zoo, the "Katifari," that housed hundreds of animals and was moved. 

10,000

people who were employed in agriculture and related industries in Gush Katif, including 5,000 Palestinians. 

60%

proportion of Israel's cherry tomato exports that came from the Gaza Strip. Israel's withdrawal from Gaza extinguished this economic resource. 

3.5 million

square meters (almost 1,000 acres) of greenhouses abandoned in Gaza.

70

percentage of Israel's organic produce grown in Gaza - another economic resource lost in the evacuation. 

60

percentage of herbs exported from Israel that came from Gush Katif. 

15

percentage of Israel agricultural exports that originated in Gaza - exports lost following Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. 

$360,000

expected average compensation amount Israel expected to pay to relocate each family. 

$870 million

approximate cost for Israel to facilitate the resettlement of former West Bank and Gaza residents elsewhere in the country. 

$500 million

amount of money Israel's security establishment spent to relocate Israel Defense Forces bases outside the Gaza Strip and build new border crossing facilities. 

430,000

West Bank Palestinians able to move freely within and between Palestinian-controlled areas. 

1

Israeli remaining in Gaza. Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit was abducted from Israel on June 25, 2006 by Hamas in a bloody cross-border raid in which the terrorists also killed two IDF soldiers and wounded four others. 

1.2 million

Arabs who remained full and legal citizens of Israel. All Israeli citizens - Christians, Muslims, and Jews - have freedom of speech, religion, press, and the right to vote.

1.3 million

Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip many of them in Palestinian Authority-controlled refugee camps, who live under their own leaders. 

820,000

Jewish refugees forced to flee without their belongings from Arab countries between 1947 and 1949, and who have never been compensated by Arab governments for their losses. 

650,000

Arab refugees who left Israel from 1947-1949 and still need Palestinian leaders who will end terrorism and the culture of hate.