Over the last dozen years, terrorists have fired more than 12,000 rockets from Gaza into Israel. For Israelis living in the southern towns most affected, the barrages bring a terror that disrupts daily life — school, religious services and kids’ birthday parties. Israeli mothers have learned to drive without wearing seat belts, so they can race to secure their kids from incoming missiles in the few seconds of warning they’re given. Many children suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

In the past several years, the once-crude rockets that Palestinian terrorists have built or smuggled into Gaza (a small coastal strip of land south of Israel) have gained range. Some now threaten the major population centers in Israel — the metropolitan areas of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. An assortment of terrorist groups sited in Gaza launched a barrage of about 100 rockets into Israel earlier this month. Israel is now responding with a military campaign of airstrikes targeting terrorist leaders, rocket stockpiles, launch sites and smuggling tunnels.