Israel threatened to cut off power to the Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rocket attacks.
Vice Premier Haim Ramon said Tuesday that Israel, which supplies approximately 60 percent of Gaza’s electricity, should consider turning off the switch temporarily each time there are cross-border rocket salvoes.
“I think we must simply put a price tag on every Kassam that is launched,” Ramon told Israel Radio, adding that Israel could also threaten the water supply to Gaza.
Ramon said he has tried “for months” to persuade Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to adopt such tactics.
Israeli officials vowed stepped-up retaliation Monday after a rocket fired by Islamic Jihad landed near a day-care center in the southern town of Sderot. Twelve children were treated for shock. Sderot parents said they would boycott the new school year indefinitely.
Olmert was scheduled to convene his Security Cabinet on Wednesday to decide on Israel’s course of action.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
