JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Kassam rocket that hit a home in Sderot was one of at least 50 rockets and mortars to strike southern Israel since a cease-fire with Hamas ended.
"Nothing’s changing, no one’s doing anything, not the government, no one," Maya Iber, whose home was hit Sunday morning, told Israel Radio.
Rockets and mortars fired Sunday from the Gaza Strip also injured the arm of a foreign worker, and landed in Ashkelon’s industrial zone, near an elementary school and a youth cultural center in the western Negev. In response, Israeli forces struck at least two rocket launchers in Gaza.
Also on Sunday, Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin told Israel’s Cabinet that Hamas possesses rockets capable of hitting Beersheba as well as Ashdod and Kiryat Gat, cities that in the past were seen as out of range.
The Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported Sunday that the Israel Defense Forces will strengthen its response to Gaza rocket fire, including targeting weapons caches and weapons factories as well as the leaders of terrorist movements.
On the same day, the Israeli news service Ynet reported that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak in a secret meeting Dec. 18 agreed that Israel would no longer practice restraint following rocket attacks.
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