Minister of Transportation Shaul Mofaz says the IDF needs to start eliminating the terror groups' leaders, as it did when he was Minister of Defense.

In an interview on Channel 2 Saturday, Mofaz said: "We have some good starts here, there are steps being taken against the terror masters, [but] we need to reach the leadership, quickly. Every one who has his hands in terrorism needs to be on the crosshairs of the State of Israel."

The municipality of the rocket-ravaged town of Sderot announced that Mofaz was the only person who has a record of operating against the terror rockets and endorsed him as its preferred candidate for Minister of Defense. Sderot invited Mofaz to a defense discussion scheduled to take place in the town Sunday morning. He will also tour some of the spots hit by rockets recently.

Mofaz was Minister of Defense during the "Disengagement" from Gaza and the destruction of Gush Katif. The rockets Sderot is now suffering from are being launched from the territory Israel evacuated at that time.

The Sderot municipality's spokesman, Yossi Cohen, said it is hard to understand why the government is continuing its policy of restraint even after several houses were directly hit last week and one of the town's residents was badly injured.

Terror rocket attacks by Gaza terrorists continued for Saturday. The "Color Red" warning system was activated three times during the day.

By 9 p.m. Saturday night, a dozen terror rockets and 5 mortar shells had hit areas in the Negev, and the rockets were still falling. Six of the rockets fell in Sderot. One rocket caused considerable damage to a factory in Sderot's industrial zone and another burst a water pipe, halting the flow of water to some of the city's residents for several hours.
By 9 p.m. Saturday night, a dozen terror rockets and 5 mortar shells had hit areas in the Negev


One person was lightly injured by shrapnel when a rocket hit a house in Neve Eshkol, and four others suffered from shock in the attack. All were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon for treatment. Three other people in Zohar, a "moshav" (agricultural community) near Gaza, were also treated for shock when a rocket hit near them. Even the dead had no quiet Saturday: terrorists fired a rocket at the cemetery in Kfar Maimon, and another was fired later at the Sderot cemetery. No damage was reported in either attack.

The five mortar shells fell near the security fence, in the vicinity of Sufa. No casualties or damage have been reported.

Two IDF soldiers whose unit was operating on the border with Gaza late Saturday were injured by an anti-tank missile fired by Gaza terrorists. The soldiers were taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon with moderate to light injuries. Meanwhile, three Gaza terrorists were killed and five wounded when IAF attacked a terrorist cell preparing to fire rockets at Israeli targets.

In an interview with Israel Radio, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that the IDF would continue to attack Hamas targets in order to pressure Gaza residents to restrain the rocket attacks on Israel. "The Palestinians need to understand that Hamas is leading them into disaster, a real disaster," Peretz said. "It is our intention to act against Hamas."