Stas is a part of the hip hop scene in Sderot and considered the city's best freestyle rapper. He works with several bands in Sderock, Sderot's teenage rock club, using music to distract children from the war around them and keep them focused on beauty and creation.

Like many in Sderot, Stas' family comes from Russia, escaping oppression during the time of the Soviet Union for freedom and democracy in Israel.

 Nesti is just an all around very cool girl. She is excited to have completed her time in the army so she can get back to having fun. She returned to Sderot because that is where her friends and family live but she is unhappy having survived the army but still being in the range of rockets.

Oshri Oz, a husband and father of a 2 year old daughter was 36 years old when a rocket from Gaza hit his car. He managed to get out of the vehicle and take a number of steps before collapsing. He was evacuated to the Barzilay Medical Center in Ashkelon, where he died of his wounds.

Or Uliel is a musician who plays a multitude of instruments. One of his favorite instruments is the darbuka, a North African drum that is steeped in African cultural history. Or loves to study cultures and learn new things about people.

Afik, son of Ruti and Itzik Ohayon, was born in Israel on September 24, 2000.

On Monday at eight in the morning, June 28, 2004, four Qassam rockets were launched at Sderot from Gaza. One of the rockets landed on a street in the neighborhood of Neve Eshkol, in a garden. Two people died on the spot, among them Afik, who was with his mother looking at flowers.

Afik’s mother, Ruti, was critically wounded from the blast. She saw that her son was severely injured, and she asked that he be placed in her hands. Afik died in his mother’s arms, while they embraced.

Afik was three years and nine months old at the time of his death.

In Afik’s memory, a website was created containing photos from his short life and [ ] of memory.
http://afik-zahavi.com

Dana Galkowicz, 22, of Kibbutz Bror Hayil, was killed by a Qassam rocket fired at Moshav Netiv Ha'asara north of the Gaza Strip on the evening of July 14, 2005. She was a communications student enrolled in Sapir College, 

Dana Galkowicz returned to her boyfriend's home in Netiv Ha'asara early that evening because she was tired. She was sitting the porch when the rocket, launched from Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, exploded next to her. She was killed instantly. Her friend, Amir Ragolsky, was lightly wounded. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah all claimed responsibility for the attack.

Dana was born in Kibbutz Bror Hayil about a year after her family immigrated to Israel from South America - her father, Natan, was born in Brazil and her mother, Perla, in Argentina. Dana graduated from high school in Sha'ar Hanegev and did her military service in the Border Police. After completing her military service she worked for the Jewish Agency and traveled in the U.S.

Dana met Amir about three years ago. They moved in together last year and were planning on getting married soon. Amir's mother, Pnina Ragolsky, said that they had been debating whether or not to live in Netiv Ha'asara, located directly north of the Gaza Strip, or in kibbutz Bror Hayil.

"She was charming, gentle and impressive," the secretary of Kibbutz Bror Hayil, Abraham Hirschfeld, said. Her friends said that she loved to dance, celebrated her 22nd birthday two weeks ago and in another two weeks was supposed to travel with Amir to India. "She was an amazing person, a genuine person, who had no masks," her friend Irit Rosenhak said. "She was one of the rare good-hearted people that I've met," Dana's friend Ofir Rappaport added.

Dana Galkowicz was buried at Kibbutz Bror Hayil. She is survived by her parents, Natan and Perla, her sister Sharon, 23, and her brother Orian, 18.

Ella (Ayala Haya) Abukasis, 17, was mortally wounded when a Qassam rocket fell on Sderot on January 15, 2005. She died January 18. She gave her life to shield her brother Tamir, who was released from hospital on the same day his sister was declared brain dead. Hundreds of people attended her funeral in Sderot. 

Family and friends hoped and prayed she would make a recovery. But on Friday she was disconnected from the equipment that had been keeping her alive artificially.

Ayala was killed on a happy day, a family reunion, and the birthday of one of her nieces. Ayala acted as the guardian of her younger brother from the outset of the Palestinian Qassam rocket attacks.  She accompanied him everywhere, slept alongside him, waited outside the bathroom for him and went with him to the computer on the second floor of the family's home.

In the evening, Ayalah and Tamir went to give support to another bereaved family. Ayalah and Tamir were with friends when the siren sounded, giving them 20 seconds warning of an incoming missile. They did not have time to take cover, so she shielded Tamir, who escaped with relatively minor wounds when the rocket fell and exploded alongside them, and she was fatally wounded.

At the funeral, her father read a passage from a letter, found in her room, in which she wrote that there were times "when we witness life ending in a moment."

MK Amir Peretz, former mayor of Sderot, was among those who attended the funeral and eulogized Abukasis, along with incumbent mayor Eli Moyal. There were no government representatives.

"She was returning after trying to give support to another bereaved family and heard the warning siren that a Kassam was on the way," said Peretz. "She didn't think twice and immediately shielded her brother. She wanted to hug him and protect him and she did that as if she was one of the most courageous fighters." 

Moyal expressed the hope that Abukasis would be the last victim of Qassam rocket attacks or any other Palestinian terrorist operations

Although born with cerebral palsy, Nir doesn't let that stop him from pursuing his dreams. He is a singer by hobby. Professionally, Nir is a reporter. He works as a fact checker for Ynet News, an Israeli news agency. It is Nir's job to report on any rockets that strike Sderot and inform the media of injuries and deaths. He says that this is why so many of his songs sound sorrowful.

On the eve of the Sukkot holiday, September 29, 2004, Yuval Abebah (alt spelling - Abebeh), 4, and Dorit Benisian, 2,  were killed by a Qassam rocket fired from Gaza at the Israeli town of Sderot. Yuval and Dorit were the first victims of the Qassam rockets, which became more lethal as they grew in size.

Yuval and Dorit were cousins. They were children of immigrants from Ethiopia, visiting their grandmother. They were playing outside the house, on Haggai Street, beneath an olive tree, when the Qassam hit them.  They suffered massive injuries and both died shortly afterwards in hospital. About 30 people were wounded in the attack, for which Hamas claimed responsibility.

Yuval's mother described the last few moments of her son's short life: "We were sitting outside my mother's house. My son was playing. Everything was normal. I watched him. He was having so much fun. Suddenly there was a distant explosion. We understood it was a Qassam, but didn't stop to think where it had landed. And then there was another explosion right next to me. Everything was black. Everyone was screaming. I searched for my Yuval. Suddenly I saw him next to me. His body was mutilated. Yuval was everything to me," she said. Yuval was deeply attached to his mother, having lost his father, Undeshaw, as a baby. The couple, who immigrated from Ethiopia, were married in Israel and settled in Sderot in 1998.

Boaz Dasta lives across the street from where the rocket fell. His son, also 4, was a friend of Yuval Abebah's, and was excited when he saw Yuval on the television.

The child asked, "'What is Yuval doing on TV?'" said Dasta. Dasta hasn't decided out how to explain to his son that Yuval won't be coming to visit again. Instead he told him that Yuval was hurt. "How will he understand this, he is so little?, asked Dasta.

Yuval Abebah was buried in the Sderot cemetery. He is survived by his mother, Asraso, and four siblings.

Meshi's mother was the first child born in Sderot. This was at a time when Sderot was a refugee community for Jews escaping persecution and threats from the Arab countries in which they lived at the time. Meshi battles this history with her talented singing.

She is a consistent member of Tzerei Sderot (Youth of Sderot), a choir that sings Israeli songs. Tzerei Sderot has performed around the world and Meshi has gone with them. She is now the singer of a Sderot rock band called "Red Out."

The small Texas town of South Padre Island, was in mourning on Sunday after Sgt. Sean Carmeli's name was cleared for publication as one of the thirteen soldiers from the Golani brigade who were killed in a clash with Hamas. Carmeli had dual US, Israeli citizenship and was a lone soldier serving in Israel. Born to Israeli parents, Alon and Dalya, who now live in the US, he was a returning citizen who chose to stay in Israel when his parents moved to Texas for work; he has two sisters, Or and Gal.

A "lone soldier", meaning he was in Israel without immediate family, his funeral was mourned by 20,000 other lone soldiers who took leave to pay their respects. 

agit is an amazing singer who recently was accepted into the Army band, a tremendous accomplishment. She has sung for the prime minister and for many national events.

Hagit's parents walked hundreds of miles across the Sudan to escape oppression in Ethiopia during the 1980s.