A rocket-proof playground...

Nice, but I wish this wasn't necessary....

Brightly painted walls surround a mini-soccer field, video games, a climbing wall and play areas. The converted warehouse also has a new thick concrete roof, a half dozen shelters and an alert system to give a 15-second warning of incoming rockets.

The children of Sderot finally have a safe place to play.

The fortified indoor playground got a warm welcome Tuesday when it opened in this southern Israeli town that has been battered by missiles fired from the adjacent Gaza Strip by Palestinian militants.

"It's an amazing thing. Until now, only the house and school were safe," said Pesah Hajbi, a 43-year-old father of three. "It's cold comfort," he added. "If they don't stop firing, at least there is a safe place to play."

Eight Sderot residents have been killed, hundreds wounded and nearly everyone in the working-class town of 24,000 has been traumatized by the frequent wail of sirens and explosions of the thousands of rockets that have hit over the past eight years.

Dozens of rockets have come down just since Israel's January offensive in Gaza ended. On Tuesday, Israeli aircraft hit a militant rocket squad in northern Gaza, wounding three, just after they fired rockets at Israel.

Now parents in this battered town have a secure place to take their children.

The $5 million center, funded by the Jewish National Fund-U.S., is surrounded by anti-shockwave walls, painted in blue, yellow, green and red. Nearly 2,000 square meters (21,000 square feet) in size, it has room for 500 people.

It is divided into two areas — one for infants and toddlers and the other for children in elementary and high school. It will also be used by seniors during morning hours and can be converted into a disco at night.

Children in costumes celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim roamed the complex Tuesday, playing in a mock shopping mall for dolls, jumping on an inflatable trampoline and playing foosball and air hockey. One, dressed as Spiderman, excitedly ascended the climbing wall. Teenagers found an outlet for their frustrations, pounding away at hanging punching bags.

"Today, we bring back the childhood to the children of Sderot, and let them feel like other children all over the world," Mayor David Buskila said.