Letter from Jaffa: 'It was the loudest boom I have ever heard'

JAFFA, Israel - It was after 2 a.m. by the time I finally fell asleep, after yet another siren sent us scrambling to the safe room in our Jaffa apartment, which has transitioned - at least for this iteration of war - into a kind of Japanese-style tatami bed, sprawling mattresses wall-to-wall. Three hours later, I woke up inexplicably and saw the door was open. One of the kids was missing.

Bleary-eyed, I went searching and found my middle son curled up asleep on my bed. I carried him back and pulled the heavy handle shut again. I'd barely drifted back to sleep when another siren sounded, follow...