As the rockets sent Sderot residents into panic and anger, Dov Weisglass, advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, met with Palestinian Authority (PA) finance minister Saeb Erekat to discuss upcoming PA elections and security. They agreed to talk in a few days on detailed coordinated procedures.
Hours earlier, the IDF abruptly halted its retaliation against rocket firings and mortar shelling.
Opposing the government strategy not to retaliate and be accused of disturbing upcoming PA presidential elections, Knesset MK Yuval Steinitz called for a massive IDF operation in Gaza. Steinitz is chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. “There is no such thing as a unilateral ceasefire. If there is shooting, then we don’t just defend, we attack,” he said Sunday.
One Kassam rocket injured eight people and caused damage at the entrance to the Sderot industrial area Sunday morning, and another landed in an empty chicken barn on a nearby kibbutz. “We are fed up,” said one Sderot resident. Six people were treated in Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon: two were lightly wounded by fragments, and four were treated for trauma. Several others were treated locally.
The IDF’s 48-hour retaliation in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis was aimed at stopping the mortar shelling of Gush Katif communities, which nevertheless continued Sunday. The rockets on Sderot, east of Ashkelon, are launched from northern Gaza, several miles north of the IDF’s weekend maneuvers which killed 11 terrorists.
Sammy Moyal, principal of a religious school in Sderot, related how one rocket landed Sunday morning on his car outside his house as he was about to drive off with his children. "My children were a bit late, but I decided not to push them too hard and I wanted things to go in 'ways of pleasantness,'" he said. "Then just as we were finally about to go out, I tarried another few seconds because my wife reminded me to take a coat – and then the rocket fell. My life and my children's lives were saved by these simple acts."
Over 400 Kassam rockets have been fired at the city of Sderot in the past two years. Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal was originally very critical of the disengagement plan, though his voice has been somewhat muted over the past few months. "This is an evil plan," he told Arutz-7 this past April "- an act of folly of giving over parts of the Land of Israel to murderers and terrorists." Two months later, he said, "We knew all along that this was what was going to happen; the writing was on the wall. The rockets are fired not merely to land, but to kill... The State of Israel is acting unilaterally, carrying out illogical moves, and conducting dialogue with itself."
The IDF ended its two-day anti-mortar shell offensive in southern Gaza Saturday night. Two mortar shell launching cells were liquidated in the course of the operation.
Neither Prime Minister Sharon nor security officials have been able to say that security for the Negev will definitely be improved following an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Several army generals, most recently Ex-Deputy IDF Intelligence Chief Gen. Yaakov Amidror last week, say that the only way to fight terrorism is for the army to physically be present in the area.
Hours earlier, the IDF abruptly halted its retaliation against rocket firings and mortar shelling.
Opposing the government strategy not to retaliate and be accused of disturbing upcoming PA presidential elections, Knesset MK Yuval Steinitz called for a massive IDF operation in Gaza. Steinitz is chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. “There is no such thing as a unilateral ceasefire. If there is shooting, then we don’t just defend, we attack,” he said Sunday.
One Kassam rocket injured eight people and caused damage at the entrance to the Sderot industrial area Sunday morning, and another landed in an empty chicken barn on a nearby kibbutz. “We are fed up,” said one Sderot resident. Six people were treated in Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon: two were lightly wounded by fragments, and four were treated for trauma. Several others were treated locally.
The IDF’s 48-hour retaliation in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis was aimed at stopping the mortar shelling of Gush Katif communities, which nevertheless continued Sunday. The rockets on Sderot, east of Ashkelon, are launched from northern Gaza, several miles north of the IDF’s weekend maneuvers which killed 11 terrorists.
Sammy Moyal, principal of a religious school in Sderot, related how one rocket landed Sunday morning on his car outside his house as he was about to drive off with his children. "My children were a bit late, but I decided not to push them too hard and I wanted things to go in 'ways of pleasantness,'" he said. "Then just as we were finally about to go out, I tarried another few seconds because my wife reminded me to take a coat – and then the rocket fell. My life and my children's lives were saved by these simple acts."
Over 400 Kassam rockets have been fired at the city of Sderot in the past two years. Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal was originally very critical of the disengagement plan, though his voice has been somewhat muted over the past few months. "This is an evil plan," he told Arutz-7 this past April "- an act of folly of giving over parts of the Land of Israel to murderers and terrorists." Two months later, he said, "We knew all along that this was what was going to happen; the writing was on the wall. The rockets are fired not merely to land, but to kill... The State of Israel is acting unilaterally, carrying out illogical moves, and conducting dialogue with itself."
The IDF ended its two-day anti-mortar shell offensive in southern Gaza Saturday night. Two mortar shell launching cells were liquidated in the course of the operation.
Neither Prime Minister Sharon nor security officials have been able to say that security for the Negev will definitely be improved following an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Several army generals, most recently Ex-Deputy IDF Intelligence Chief Gen. Yaakov Amidror last week, say that the only way to fight terrorism is for the army to physically be present in the area.