Report: Gazans warned of strike; Barak: We'll respond to rockets
As Rafah residents reportedly recieve IDF phone calls warning of possible strike in southern Strip, defense minister tours northern border, saying 'Hamas really wants a calm, but the attacks are a fact. If a stronger blow is needed, it will come at the right time'
Residents of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip reported receiving phone calls from the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday warning them of a possible strike in the area, following the Grad rocket attack on Ashkelon that morning that caused damage to property and a number of shock victims.
During a tour of the Northern Command, Defense Minister Ehud Barak commented on the rocket, saying, "There will be a response to the attack in the Gaza Strip."
"If there is a calm it will be received with a calm, and if it turns out that another blow is needed, maybe an even harder one, then another, stronger blow will come in the right way and at the right time."
The defense minister received security briefings on activity in the northern front, spoke with soldiers and watched over the border with Lebanon.
Barak also commented on Hizbullah threats, as the first anniversary of the assassination of the group's Imad Mugniyah draws near, saying, "I don't recommend for Hizbullah to test us, the results could be more painful than they imagine… Any attempt to strike Israel will be met with a response."
Netanyahu: I will bring Hamas down
Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu visited the landing site of the Grad rocket in Ashkelon Tuesday afternoon and was greeted by the mayor. His remarks were interrupted by quite a few residents who demanded practical solutions.
Netanyahu blamed "Kadima's policy of blindness" for the situation and vowed to bring the Hamas government down and end the rocket fire.
One of the residents shouted at him, "Enough talking, promise us you won't appoint Ehud Barak as defense minister," but the opposition chairman didn't respond.
Leah Mirelashvili and her two-year-old daughter Dorit arrived at the landing site. Her child clung to her and appeared terrified. Their house was hit by shrapnel in the morning and the mother cried, "Look at my daughter – she's still afraid of war. Every sound of a plane and every small noise makes her jump.
"My son passes here every day on his way to school, and only thinking about it terrifies me. We can't go on living like this. Whey did they leave Gaza?" she asked.
Netanyahu spoke to the woman and calmed her down. "He promised me everything would be okay," she said later.
