On Saturday morning, a Kassam fired from Gaza landed in Ashkelon Region in the third ceasefire violation since both Israel and Hamas declared cease-fires on January 18. On Sunday morning, in a fourth ceasefire violation,
terrorists fired off four more Kassams at southern Israel for a total of five, including one which landed Sunday morning between two kindergartens in Eshkol Region.
Meanwhile,
terrorists fired four mortars at IDF troops at the Kissufim crossing. The soldiers returned fire.
On Sunday evening, Hamas fired four more mortars which fell in the Sha'ar Hanegev region of the western Negev inflicting light shrapnel wounds on two IDF soldiers and a civilian. A Kassam rocket also hit near Sderot an hour later.
Both Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Likud MK Gideon Sa'ar have urged an immediate military response.
Prime Minister Olmert told a Sunday cabinet meeting that
Israel would respond firmly to the rocket attacks, saying;
"The cabinet's position from the outset was that if there is rocket fire at southerners, there will be a response that will essentially be disproportionate."
"We won't return to the rules of the game that terror groups have tried to dictate and we won't be dragged into a never-ending shooting war," said the prime minister, stressing that Israel would not allow the rocket attacks to continue.
Olmert said he had instructed Defense Minister Ehud Barak to order the army to prepare a response. "We won't give the terror groups warning as to when and how we'll react, but Israel will respond and act at the time and place of its choosing," he said.
At the time of this posting, there has as yet been no IDF response to these weekend ceasefire violations.
