"Her sister, for example, lives in an artists' village in the Carmel Mountains just south of Haifa, and tries to shut the situation out of her thoughts -- except when a missile fired from Gaza comes flying over her house." - Suffet (Steve)

I've just had a look at the map of Israel Steve. The lady could be in no danger from any missile fired from Gaza and she most certainly would ever have experienced a missile from Gaza "flying over her house" located where you describe it.

"the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip have been building their own homemade rockets since about 2000. These rockets, developed by Nidal Fat'hi Rabah Farahat and Adnan al-Ghoul, are known as the Qassam (or Kassam) and were first used by Hamas terrorists in 2001. Hamas began constructing these weapons because of the strong security barriers surrounding the Gaza Strip that prevented direct raids on Israeli towns. The Qassam rockets are designed to fly over the barrier to strike population centers within Israel. The Qassam rockets are not nearly as advanced as those employed by Hezbollah, however, and both their range and explosive payload are quite limited.

Three different versions of the rocket have been seen so far. The Qassam 1 has a diameter of 60 mm, carries a warhead weighing 1 lb (0.5 kg), and has a maximum range of only 2 miles (3 km). Early attacks using these rockets failed because they landed inside the Gaza Strip itself rather than upon their intended targets. The first Qassam strike to hit an Israeli town occurred on 5 March 2002 when two of the weapons hit Sderot just north of the Gaza Strip. This community has taken the brunt of Qassam attacks given its close proximity to the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun where most Qassam strikes are launched. The first fatalities caused by the rocket also occurred in Sderot on 28 June 2004 when two Israelis were killed.

The danger posed by Qassam attacks began to grow as improved versions were developed. The 150-mm Qassam 2 carries a warhead between 11 and 15 pounds (5 to 7 kg) over a distance of about 5 miles (8 km). The most advanced version seen so far is the Qassam 3 with a 170-mm body containing a 22-lb (10-kg) warhead and traveling as much as 6 miles (10 km). The farthest Israeli town attacked by late 2005 has been Ashkelon about 5 miles (8 km) from its launch point. Attacks using the improved Qassam 3 had succeeded in reaching the central part of Ashkelon by July 2006. The Qassam attacks have generally done very little damage and killed or injured just a handful of people since most of the rockets fall harmlessly in open areas."

Haifa is approximately 100 miles North of the top end of the Gaza Strip.