A short personal note and a few pictures from the northern Israel war zone.

We have had at least 20 katyusha rockets hit the city of Nahariya, the most recent ones being about an hour ago.

Last night 2 rockets landed on HaMeyasdim St., one block from our house. One knocked out power for several hours and destroyed our neighborhood produce store. A second narrowly missed a synagogue crowded for Thursday evening prayers, landing in the parking lot between the synagogue and an apartment house.

The day before had been more tragic, with a Nahariya woman killed on her apartment balcony- she was an immigrant from Argentina and the aunt of the teenaged cantor of our synagogue. Also badly injured was the man who sold all of us coffee beans in Nahariya's only coffee shop- at 7:15 in the morning he was getting ready for his day's work.

At the hospital we have been treating injured soldiers and civilians since the Hizbollah attack. Thankfully, until now, the great majority of civilian injured have been "minor" shrapnel injuries.

Our own in-patients have either been discharged home or moved to our underground admission facility.

Although we hope for a short conflict, and one which will bring home our kidnapped soldiers, we have no illusions about the nature of our enemy and their disdain for human life and for fighting by the rules (One of our physicians asked, in all seriousness, after two katyushas narrowly missed the hospital, whether we weren't protected by the conventions of war as a medical facility).

Many of you have written, expressing your concern and offering your support and prayers. A personal thank you, we appreciate this warm connection.

Norman