Tel Aviv (JTA) – Both were in their 30s, killed on the streets of Sderot by rockets fired from the neighboring Gaza Strip.The deaths of Shirel Friedman and Oshri Oz within a week of each other illustrate just how dangerous life in the small border town of Sderot has become, making driving down the road toward a job or hurrying home to grab a sweater against the night chill acts of Russian Roulette.Oz was killed Sunday morning as he drove to the office where he did computer networking twice a week. He had said goodbye that morning to his 3-year-old daughter and his wife, Susanna – eight months pregnant – in the Tel Aviv suburb of Hod Hasharon.He was just a few feet away from the office when a Kassam rocket crashed near his car. Oz, hit by shrapnel, stumbled out of the car and collapsed onto the road.Among the paramedics that treated him was a friend from the Sea Scouts, a youth group for sailing, who worked in Sderot. Avi Teiger said Oz’s face was so covered with blood that he could not recognize him.His blue eyes looked familiar, Teiger said, but he did not know why.”It’s a very cruel coincidence,” he told Ha’aretz.Oz’s wife, who saw the smoldering remains of his car on television, reportedly collapsed and is now in the hospital. Friends are worried how she will manage alone with a new baby and young daughter.Among those at his funeral Monday were childhood friends from the Sea Scouts, with whom Oz had gathered the night before for a reunion.Friedman was killed on May 21. She and her mother, Adela, sat on a park bench to rest after shopping ahead of the Shavuot holiday. Her mother said she felt a chill, so Friedman returned to their home nearby to pick up a sweater. On the way a Kassam fell nearby and Friedman suffered fatal injuries to her chest and stomach.”Shirel and I sat outside every day. We were the best of friends,” Adela said. “She was a wonderful daughter.”The rocket that killed Friedman was one of several that fell in a barrage that night not far from the shopping center in the center of town. At the same time, a group of the town’s businesspeople were meeting to discuss how to best cope with the latest round of Kassam fire that had hit the city a few days before.Thousands of residents of Sderot poured out of the city last week seeking a respite from the rockets. Schools were closed temporarily. Many residents returned this week.About 800 students out of some 3,000 came to school on Monday. At one school, Israel Radio reported, none of the teachers showed up.Meanwhile, 11th- and 12th-graders were bused to nearby towns to prepare for their matriculation exams.The Education Ministry on Sunday rejected a request by Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal to end the school year early, saying it would cause more harm than good.Angry Sderot residents have said the government has not done enough to fortify buildings against rocket attacks.Buildings reinforced against attacks in the past two years reportedly are no longer considered safe because the Palestinians are making more powerful rockets with twice the amount of explosives on their warheads.Yossi Kishk, a longtime close friend of Oz, told the daily Ma’ariv that Oz “was not afraid of the Kassam rockets” – but his relatives were. Recently they urged Oz to at least ask for a raise to continue taking the risk of traveling to Sderot.”Now we understand that such a raise would not have helped,” Kishk said. “He just shouldn’t have gone there.”
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