We live in a country that expects trouble... butik nobody saw this coming

I SEE helicopters flying overhead, I hear missiles in the distance and I see shock on the face of everyone I meet.

-  JOHN JEFFAY

Israelis live in constant fear of attack, but nobody expected anything on this scale, with many hundreds of civilians - men, women and children - murdered by terrorists (the number is increasing by the hour as more bodies are found), thousands more injured and at least 100 taken hostage in Gaza.

I spent many years working for the M.E.N. before I moved to a town in central Israel with my family nine years ago.

The day we arrived marked the start of an earlier conflict, Protective Edge.

Sirens sounded at the airport in Tel Aviv, as passengers were ushered to huge underground shelters and air space over the entire country was closed. That was our welcome to Israel.

The last couple of days have been surreal. We live in a country that expects trouble. Every home here has a bomb-proof room. Soldiers, police officers and many ordinary citizens openly carry guns.

Missile attacks are a regular fact of life, especially for those living in the south of the country. There are waves of violence, followed by periods of relative calm.

But the magnitude of Saturday's attack is unprecedented. We were woken by a siren wailing at 6.30am and dashed down to our bomb-proof room, still mostly asleep.