The security cabinet will convene on Wednesday to mull a response to the ongoing Qassam fire toward Sderot from the Gaza Strip.
In the wake of the recent escalation in the south, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
cancelled a planned discussion of the situation along Israel's border with Syria and Lebanon.
A growing number of ministers are speaking against the government's policy of restraint, urging Olmert to approve a large-scale military operation against terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
Public pressure has been mounting on the government to give the army a free hand to quell rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
"It is unthinkable that we continue to supply electricity, water and fuel to the residents of the strip when the citizens of Israel are live targets for rockets," Vice Premier Haim Ramon told Yedioth Ahronoth.
He said Israel should set a price tag from the Palestinians for each rocket attacks. "We should announce that for every rocket fired toward Israel we will cut off – for two to three hours – the supply of electricity, fuel and water to the Strip," he said.
Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter, who relocated his office to Sderot, said Tuesday that Israel was on a collision course with terror groups in Gaza.
The head of the dovish Meretz faction, Yossi Beilin, urged ministers who oppose military intervention in Gaza to make their stance public.
"The fact that there is not a single voice among government minister that is proposing a ceasefire in Gaza in order to stop the firing of Qassams, proves the silence of the lambs syndrome," Beilin said.
Attila Somfalvi, Shmulik Haddad and Anat Bereshkovsky contributed to this report
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