Children in an Israeli border town shelled by Palestinian terrorists are like front-line soldiers, Shimon Peres said.
The Israeli president visited Sderot on Wednesday to raise morale and reassure residents that defense officials are working on technology to counter frequent rocket salvoes from the nearby Gaza Strip.
“This is a very trying period for you,” Peres told local youngsters. “When the day comes, you will know that even as children, you were soldiers.”
Peres said Israel was rebuffing foreign calls to negotiate with the Hamas administration in Gaza to ease sanctions against the territory’s Palestinians.
“I met yesterday with a number of foreign ministers. They told me, talk,” Peres recalled. “What can we say to them? They said you are putting on too much pressure. I said we aren’t using pressure. If they stop shooting, there will be no pressure.”
