A Kassam rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists operating in the Gaza Strip exploded just 50 meters from Chabad-Lubavitch of Sderot, Israel, on Tuesday, sending the 150 children and parents who had just moments before been laughing and playing at the Chabad House's Gymboree program scrambling for the exits.

No one was hurt in the attack, which struck a direct hit on a neighboring house, shook the Chabad House and cut the electricity. The owner of the damaged house went into shock.

"Everyone panicked, ran away and went home," lamented Rabbi Moshe Ze'ev Pizem, director of the Chabad House, which serves an Israeli city just kilometers from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian strip. "We've had luck that almost every Tuesday when the Gymboree is in session has been relatively quiet. Parents and their children come here to relax and find some calm."

On Thursday, 15 Kassam rockets rained down on Sderot; on Wednesday, shrapnel from a rocket explosion on nearby Be'eri injured a 12-year-old girl and her 2-year-old sister.

Pizem, who of late has mounted a door-to-door campaign to check residents' mezuzahs, was hopeful that the crowds would return next week. He nevertheless admitted that people are justifiably scared.

"The most important thing is for the children to play and let loose," he said. "But it depends on what happens in the next few days.

"We are strong, though," he added. "We won't give in."