Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday morning that the western Negev city of Sderot will be protected by “a combination of a number of systems,” in a plan to defend the Gaza Belt communities that would be implemented by 2010. “The fortification won’t be extreme,” he said, adding Israel has "no intention of fortifying every building in Gaza area communities or in Sderot." 

Some 10,000 Israelis streamed into the rocket-battered city on Friday to do their pre-Sabbath shopping and show solidarity with the residents whose community has been devastated by seven years of ceaseless rocket attacks launched from northern Gaza. Other solidarity protests have been carried out in the past several weeks as well, with plans to continue the demonstrations. Olmert was unmoved by the events, saying “The solidarity with Sderot’s residents is not an alternative for other things.”