Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot visits with children in southern Israeli community after Gaza missile strike

Internationally recognized “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot dropped in on Wednesday to visit an Israeli village one kilometer from Gaza City which the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) targeted with rocket fire earlier this month. 

Gadot’s surprise visit to a classroom of children in Moshav Netiv HaAsara, “Path of the Ten,” was captured on video by Israel’s Channel 13 TV reporter Almog Boker and shared on social media.

וונדר וומן בעוטף עזה
.
גל גדות הפתיעה את תושבי העוטף וקפצה לביקור במושב נתיב העשרה שעל גבול הרצועה ❤️ pic.twitter.com/stfJN1JYdm

— almog boker (@bokeralmog) August 24, 2022

Moshav Netiv HaAsara is the closest community in Israel to the Gaza Strip, so close to the border that it has a Hamas observation post overlooking its homes. A bullet fired from the area of that post into a locksmith’s workshop in the town last month prompted the Israel Defense Forces to attack the post and partially destroy it. 

The community has been the target of rockets and missiles, guerrilla fighters and other dangerous military attacks, particularly since Israel’s withdrawal of soldiers and Jewish civilians from Gaza in 2005.

During the clash between Israel and the Islamic Jihad earlier this month, as Israel killed PIJ leaders in Operation “Breaking Dawn,” the terrorist group fired more than 500 rockets into Israel, causing damage and wounding several civilians. 

Netiv HaAsara was one of the many towns in southern Israel that were threatened by the rocket barrage between Aug. 5 and 7, causing its residents to seek shelter or remain ready to run for the extent of the fight. 

Gadot, who recently completed two film projects including Netflix film “Heart of Stone,” was in Israel the same weekend, and was photographed taking cover from missile fire, with her husband and three daughters, in a bomb shelter on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard. 

Gadot faced criticism for not speaking out on behalf of Israel during the rocket and missile barrage by the Gaza-based terrorist group. In May 2021, she fell under the gun of fellow actors and social media users in the West for the opposite action – sharing on social media a message of support for Israel. 

During the 2014 Gaza War, known as Operation Protective Edge, Gadot shared a picture of herself and her eldest daughter Alma saying a blessing over Shabbat candles and voicing her support for the IDF.