Many Israelis living near Gaza Strip flee

Palestinian firefighters inspect the wreckage of a vehicle following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Aug. 25, 2014. Three people were wounded in an airstrike on the car, according Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
Palestinian firefighters inspect the wreckage of a vehicle following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Aug. 25, 2014. Three people were wounded in an airstrike on the car, according Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

JERUSALEM -- Tens of thousands of Israelis have fled their homes along the border with the Gaza Strip, reflecting growing fear and frustration over the fighting with Hamas and the Palestinian mortar fire raining down on their communities.

With the school year fast approaching, the government began offering assistance to residents Monday in the first large-scale voluntary evacuation in nearly eight weeks of fighting.

Officials estimate that 70 percent of the 40,000 inhabitants of the farming communities along the Gaza border have left, including hundreds on Monday.

Fields that once yielded vegetables and flowers are barren and pockmarked by Palestinian mortar shells. Streets are empty and most homes eerily silent.

The fighting has killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, leveled thousands of buildings and left tens of thousands of people homeless, according to Gaza officials.

The death toll on the Israeli side has been much lower, largely because of Israel's network of air-raid sirens, bomb shelters and the Iron Dome missile-defense system.

Yet Israel's defenses have been largely ineffective against short-range mortar fire -- a deficiency underscored when a 4-year-old boy was killed Friday by a Palestinian mortar shell.

"The community is very close to the border, and we have almost no warning of incoming fire," said Elazar Ashtivkar, 30, a father of four who left Nahal Oz, the scene of the deadly attack, several weeks ago with his family.

He said nearly all of Nahal Oz's roughly 400 residents have left. Only a few workers in charge of taking care of the cows along with some security personnel remain, he said.

"The agricultural fields were destroyed. There is nothing now," he said.

The military says Gaza militants have fired at least 1,400 mortar rounds on the border communities since the fighting began.

Elena Glass was among the few residents who decided to stay.

"We are not going to move because this is our house and we have to defend this place," she said. "I understand all the families that moved out because of the children, but someone has to stay here."

The government this week offered to help anxious Israelis close to the battle zone leave their homes, the first time it has sponsored a large-scale evacuation.

"It is their right to leave, and we will assist them with temporary solutions," Finance Minister Yair Lapid said in a TV interview Sunday.

Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, hailed news of the Israeli exodus. The group's spokesman in Gaza, Mushir al-Masri, said the Israelis will not be allowed to return unless Hamas "allows it."

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it carried out at least 65 airstrikes Monday, targeting a mosque it said was used to store weapons and another it said militants used as a meeting point. The military also said Palestinian militants fired more than 100 rockets into Israel.

Early today, an Israeli airstrike leveled a 14-story building in Gaza, wounding at least 25 people, said Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra.

It was the tallest building in Gaza to be destroyed by an airstrike in the fighting so far.

Residents of the 14-story building already had evacuated after Israel fired a warning missile.

Information for this article was contributed by Ibrahim Barzak and Daniel Estrin of The Associated Press.

A Section on 08/26/2014

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