Laid-back Tel Aviv gets a rude wake-up call

[NewsCaster]

Getty Images / Getty ImagesTwo Israeli women run for shelter as air raid sirens sound in the Israeli capital Tel Aviv for the second day on Nov. 16, 2012 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Cross border exchanges of missile fire between Israel and Palestinian fighters in Gaza, have caused fatalities on both sides in recent days, but this is the first time that Palestinians have used missiles which appear to have the range to target Tel Aviv. By Martin Fletcher, NBC NewsTEL AVIV, Israel -- If it is in hardship that you can take the measure of a man or woman, apparently the same goes for a town.

Tel Aviv, long described as a bubble by other Israelis for its laid-back style and alleged intellectual distance from the country's daily tribulations, got a wake-up call Thursday night.

For the first time since the Iraq war in 1991, the sirens screamed, warning of a rocket attack, this time from the Gaza Strip.

The bubble burst big-time, if only for a moment, and if only for some.

Children, rushed to the shelter by their anxious parents, burst into tears. People slammed on the brakes of their cars and raced to find a bomb shelter. Others, caught in the open, lay flat on the ground with their hands covering their heads.

NBCNews