Provoked by the Palestinians' escalating missile campaign, on Sunday evening the Ashkelon Parents Association voted not to send their children to school on Monday.
Israeli police identified the missile that hit Ashkelon as a Grad rocket, which has a longer range than the Qassam rockets frequently used by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
As the head of the Shin Bet in 1984, he ordered the summary execution of two terrorists who had been captured alive after hijacking an Israeli bus en route from Tel Aviv to Ashkelon.
Mekel says the government's problems with the network grew during the recent Israeli military attacks inside Hamas-controlled Gaza following Palestinian rocket attacks on the southern Israeli town of Sderot and the port city of Ashkelon.
He has been reminding the public that he warned that Palestinian militants in Gaza could launch rockets at Israeli cities such as Ashkelon and Ashdod -- which has happened and led to Israel's recent military operation in Gaza.