News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday night that a full-scale counter-terrorist offensive in Gaza is not a simple operation and that "we have to decide what to do when we are there" and how long to remain. Palestinian Authority terrorists in Gaza fired a barrage of 20 Kassam rockets at Sderot and nearby communities earlier in the day, injuring three people, sending several others into shock and heavily damaging a car.

Previous anti-terrorist campaigns were mostly successful while soldiers remained in the area, but rocket attacks resumed after IDF withdrawals. The government said three years ago there is no way to develop an anti-Kassam rocket system, but later it was disclosed that it shelved a plan by an American firm to develop a system. The government reversed itself again last year and authorized research and development of a system, but it will take at least two years before it can be tested and become operative.