The Jewish Agency helped children in southern Israel receive a day of respite during Operation Pillar of Defense with its Fund for the Victims of Terror. The Fund for the Victims of Terror provides emotional and financial assistance to victims suffering from a terrorist attacks.

Tens of thousands of Israeli children across the western Negev were traumatized by barrages of Grad and Kassam rockets, and mortar shells fired from Gaza.

In the Community Center in the district of Nahalat Ada in the Northern Negev, the music pumped as hundreds of kids danced off the tension of having been stuck inside shelters for over a week. Children are entertained by volunteers from the IDC and the Israeli scouts. The volunteers dance, play sports, and put on a play for the children.

The initiative to take the children out of the South for a day of respite is fantastic.

Sonia Rada, a lecturer at Sapir College in Sderot, lives in the community of Beror Hayil, a few kilometers north of the Gaza strip. Sonia says that life has been extremely difficult for the family over the past week. She and her children were unable to go outside even for a few minutes due to the risk of rocket fire. Every Code Red alert scared the children, who sleep in the family's protected room. Despite this, she has tried to keep life as routine as possible.

Sonia describes the initiative to take the children out of the South for a day of respite as "fantastic", and notes that the volunteers from the Israeli scouts, who are looking after the children, are doing a great job. For Sonia, this is a perfect reflection of the Jewish people looking after one another.