Mayor Bloomberg Rushed to Bomb Shelter when Rocket Hits Duiring his Solidarity Visit to Israel

Bad Hamas. Bad.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was on a solidarity visit when a bomb struck less than a mile from where he was standing.

Mayor Bloomberg braved embattled Israeli neighborhoods today during a solidarity visit - and found himself hustled into a bomb shelter as rockets landed less than a mile from where he was standing.

During his tour of a government building in Sderot, a war-torn town two miles from the Gaza Strip, the mayor was rushed into the structure's underground shelter by his security detail as the wails of sirens warned that a rocket was 15 seconds from landing.

Chairs were knocked over as his City Hall team, Israeli workers and press jammed into a few tight rooms.

A woman shouted over loud speaker in Hebrew, "Tzevah Adom," or "Code Red."

"I was in the hands of professionals. I feel exactly the way I do when I'm in New York City. You're worried about it, you turn to the professionals," said Bloomberg after the scare.

Bloomberg's shelter doubled as a military reaction room where he could see on a map where the bombs were expected to land. He was with about a dozen people, including Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Congressman Gary Ackerman.

"All I heard was get into a room," said Kelly.

Sderot is no stranger to rocket fire. It was hit 14 times today as tension between Hamas and Israel intensified in the Gaza Strip.
Only one building was hit. It was a widow's home that Bloomberg visited hours after it was destroyed.

"Fortunately, no one was injured, " said Bloomberg, who said the real incidents were reminders of what those who live in Sderot experience regularly.