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Kassam ready to fire (file)
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| By Israel Insider staff November 4, 2007 |
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The vacillation of the Olmert government was demonstrated in dramatic fashion as a rocket fired from Gaza hit a power line in Sderot, blacking out the city and disabling the alert siren. Last week, Israel's Attorney General ordered the defense ministry to deliberate how to minimize civilian discomfort as a result of planned cuts in Gaza power.
Hamas and its allies had no need for such a discussion.
One of three Qassam rockets fired at the southern town plunged it into darkness, while another hit a house, damaging it and surrounding structures; several residents were treated for shock.
"We heard three loud explosions, but the Color Red alert system didn't sound.... My whole house was shaking," a resident told Ynet. Several residents confronted IDF forces at the scene, protesting what they called the military's impotence in preventing the Qassams.
In response to a Palestinian rocket attack earlier in the morning, the IDF struck from the air and the ground in Gaza Strip, killing five Palestinians. Two were acknowledged as Islamic Jihad terrorists, while three were reportedly civilian "guards" who were hit in a trailer next to a Kassam rocket launcher.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz reportedly had a heated argument following Mazuz's decision not to approve the ministry's plan to restrict power supplies to the Strip. Complaining that the A-G should have objected earlier if he had a problem with the decision, Barak reportedly huffed to Mazuz, "You'll not be making the decisions for me."
But he did, emphasizing Barak's impotence, and the lights went out in Sderot before they dimmed in Gaza.
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