Israel reels under rocket hail day after Olmert's assuring words

Israel reels under rocket hail day after Olmert's assuring words: "Israel reels under rocket hail day after Olmert's assuring words
Published: 8/2/2006

KIRYAT SHMONA - Israel reeled under an unprecedented hail of Hezbollah rockets Wednesday, a day after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert assured the nation that its three-week war in Lebanon had crippled the Shiite militia.

In the most intensive single-day barrage since the start of the offensive on July 12, more than 160 rockets rained down across Israel's north, killing at least one person and wounding another 19, two of them seriously.

Previously, the largest number of rockets fired in a single day was 156.

'No one will ever be able to threaten this nation with missiles,' he said. The threat of Hezbollah 'will never again be what it was.'

Hezbollah has fired more than 2,000 rockets at northern Israel since the start of the Lebanon offensive on July 12, killing 19 civilians.