A total of 18 Kassam rockets have rained down on Israel since midnight Sunday,

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

A total of 18 Kassam rockets have rained down on Sderot and the western Negev since midnight Sunday, following an unprecedented day of rocket fire in which one person was seriously wounded by shrapnel and a number of buildings damaged.

Speaking at a Labor faction meeting in the Knesset, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said, "They have to understand we have the capability to deliver much more painful answers [to Kassams]."

Referring to the 24-hour ultimatum issued last night, and Peretz said that he expects quiet to be achieved in the very near future - "and I'm not talking about days but hours."

Peretz emphasized that Israel's offer of medical treatment to those wounded in Friday's incident in which seven members of one Gaza family were killed by a mysterious explosion was in no way an omission of guilt. Israel had offered medical treatment "only because it was human beings in need" of help.

Sderot mayor Eli Moyal on Sunday personally delivered a message to Ra'anan Dinur, the director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, saying, "Destroy Beit Hanun or Sderot will become a ghost town."

Upset by the unprecedented number of Kassam rockets fired at his city over the weekend - Palestinians launched more than 50 from Beit Hanun - a restless Moyal told Dinur, "You have to choose" between Beit Hanun and Sderot.

"If you do not destroy Beit Hanun, Sderot will become a ghost town. The people of this city cannot suffer any more Kassam attacks," he told Dinur and The Jerusalem Post. "It's impossible to live here now."

Then, as if to prove his point, even more Kassams slammed into Sderot. One resident was seriously wounded and three others were lightly wounded by two of at least 26 rockets fired on Sunday alone.

A warning siren blared Monday, signaling an imminent rocket strike, while approximately 50 city residents demonstrated in a small park outside Defense Minister Amir Peretz's Sderot home, demanding that the IDF attack Gaza to halt the Kassam fire. A group of young children held up signs and chanted, "Stop the Kassams, let us sleep at night" as another rocket flew toward the city. Protesters screamed and ran behind a low wall in the small park, where they huddled for a few minutes until they heard the rocket hit a short distance away.

On Saturday and Sunday, Sderot and the area adjacent to Gaza, sustained the highest number of rocket attacks since Palestinians began launching Kassams in April 2001. The muted Israeli reaction to the attacks has angered both Moyal and Sderot residents, in addition to the lack of response to previous requests for a harsher response after rocket attacks.

Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter caused waves when he made a similar suggestion regarding Beit Hanun in a cabinet meeting only a week ago. At the time, both Peretz and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert objected to such action.

At this Sunday's cabinet meeting, Olmert said, "This firing is very serious. It strikes at the fabric of life in communities in southern Israel and threatens people's lives."

Also on Sunday, Batay Katar, who heads Sderot's Parents Association, launched a strike of city schools until the government succeeds in halting the firing on the city. She was also one of a small group of residents who launched a hunger strike on Sunday evening.

She said she planned to live on a liquid diet until the government either takes decisive action or evacuates the city.

Standing in front of her felafel stand in the mostly empty Sderot market earlier in the day, Rachel El Gazar said she would be happy to leave if someone paid her to go

source

[slim 1,525]

So what's the US going to do about this?

[almaty 19]

So what's the US going to do about this?

nothing

[Ban Hammer 13,342]

So what's the US going to do about this?

let's condemn israel for having their land in the path of those peace loving innocent rockets

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Business as usual

[iceyspots 0]

So what's the US going to do about this?

let's condemn israel for having their land in the path of those peace loving innocent rockets

lmao I was actually thinking the same thing

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Noone loves peace over there.

[*Robert* 2]

Let's make idiotic comments. That will make everything better... VJ Sheesh