Another Kassam rocket attack in the Sderot area Saturday night questions Israel’s will to deliver a heavy blow to Hamas if strikes hit rural areas.
The rocket exploded near the town of Sderot, but no injuries or damage was reported in a "near-miss" on a local farm community. The number of rocket attacks has subsided in the past 48 hours since the Hamas and Islamic Jihad version of a “ceasefire” was announced.
In effect, they are sparing major population centers, such as Be’er Sheva and Ashkelon, at least for the time being.
Sderot and surrounding agricultural communities comprise areas that are mostly farmland, lessening but not eliminating the chances that a missile will fall on populated areas such as directl hits on a kibbutz or town. That has, however, happened frequently and often with deadly results.
Two other rockets exploded in the same region Friday without causing injuries or damage, and a Grad rocket hit an open area south of Ashkelon.
Residents of the Jewish communities in the Gaza Belt, located less then two miles from northern Gaza, have been frustrated by years of a government policy of reacting mildly to the attacks in their areas that keep residents on edge and cause serious emotional problems.
The IDF usually responds to an attack by targeting one of hundreds of tunnels built by terrorists to infiltrate into the area so as to stage a kidnapping, which would give the terrorists more political leverage against Israel.
Defending the region with deep IDF strikes or a ground assault into Gaza would pose a problem for the Netanyahu government in light of constant media reports that the rocket attacks “fell in open areas without damage or injuries.” The rockets cause psychological damage even when they fall in open fields, but that is rarely mentioned.
Even after a barrage of rockets on Be’er Sheva last week, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that a large-scale operation would not be tolerated by the international community.