An Israeli man takes cover as a siren warning of incoming rockets sounds in Sderot, southern Israel, Nov. 12, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Ammar Awad.

Residents of Israel’s south expressed outrage and impatience on Monday after several days of ongoing rocket fire from terrorists in the Gaza Strip had them scrambling for shelter both day and night.

Moran Hila Madmoni — a resident of Sderot, a favorite target of rocket attacks — told Israeli news site Walla, “While the Knesset plays with chairs, here it’s Russian roulette with our lives, our spirit and our body. Instead of defending us, they’re dealing with themselves.”

“We need to respond forcefully” against Hamas, she said.

Another Sderot resident, Batya Katar, said the same. “It was a very difficult night in the city,” she said. “It was a relatively quiet year because of corona, but it’s going back again.”

“The IDF’s response has to be strong and real,” she added, “and not like it’s been up to now. Where is our security? It doesn’t matter what the political situation is, we want a hard blow to Hamas and quiet for us.”

Albert Gabbai described the situation in Sderot as “all night we were running between the bedroom and the shelter. There’s a very difficult feeling among the residents. It can’t go on like this. We have to act with power. People are suffering here.”

Or Bar Ilan, a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, told Israel’s i24 News, “You can see I’m still wearing my pajamas because we weren’t able to sleep at night for the past three nights.”

“It’s very tense for us, it’s very frustrating,” she said, “because it’s happening for the past twenty years, these ongoing terror attacks on our communities here.”

Asked about the effect on the communities’ children, Bar Ilan said, “I heard about children that are going back to not being able to be alone, scared to sleep, having nightmares.”

“Just as much as the kids also for us grownups,” she added. “I’m very tense now.”

Bar Ilan noted that she is working from home because, if a rocket attack occurs, the roads to her kibbutz will be closed and she will be unable to return from her place of work in Beersheva.

“So, I’m staying at home today,” she said. “That’s part of our reality.”