Residents of southern Israel ask for peace and quiet

Residents of southern Israel are desperate for security as rockets continue to fall on Gaza border area communities.

"We want all residents of Israel to understand that people living in the Gaza periphery and in Tel Aviv should receive the same treatment," said 24-year-old Jonathan Shamriz, a student from Kfar Aza.

Shamriz is one of the organizers of a solidarity rally for residents of southern Israel planned for Thursday evening in Tel Aviv. "All we are asking is that thousands of people come to our rally in Rabin Square to express solidarity," he said.

The slogan for the rally is "Don't stay silent during a Color Red siren," referring to the relative calm in central Israel while the country's south is still suffering from Hamas rocket attacks.

"People feel so frustrated that they want to leave the area. They don't trust government officials, whose job it is to keep us safe," Shamriz said.

"It's impossible to live like this. As someone who was born here, leaving isn't an option. This is my home and I'll fight for it with everything I have, but I need the state to provide security," he added.

Like Shamriz, 18-year-old Tal Masas of Sderot is frustrated by the rocket fire that has become routine in southern Israel. "For 14 years, almost my entire life, we've been trying to return to normal daily life, but we aren't succeeding," she said.

Masas will be a speaker at Thursday evening's rally, where she plans to tell the crowd: "I am here today to say, 'Enough!' No more fear, no more anxiety, no more bomb shelters. I am turning to the government and asking for the most basic thing a person can ask for: peace and quiet."

Over the last month, 120 Nahal Oz residents have fled the rocket fire, staying at the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village near Beit Yanai in central Israel.

Hadassah Neurim Director Natan Biton said, "People are saying, 'We don't want to go back home,' so we open our doors and our hearts to them. Israel is facing a situation of war. Now is the time for solidarity. Today it's the south, tomorrow it could be the center [of Israel]. After all, we're all one big family."