( dpa ) - Israel's pubic security minister warned Sunday that the town of Sderot, a frequent target of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, would "collapse" unless Israel deterred militants in the salient from launching the projectiles.
Israel media reports quoted Avi Dichter as telling fellow ministers from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party that the mood in Sderot, which lie less than two kilometrers east of the Gaza Strip, was very "difficult."
Dichter later told the entire cabinet that he was worried Israel had become "blunted" in its approach to the rocket attacks and said the attacks carried out by the Israeli military, which include targeting rocket-launching gangs, was not changing the situation.
Militants in the Gaza Strip have since the start of the year fired over 180 projectiles at Israeli towns and villages adjacent to the salient, he said, and Sderot residents are living with a feeling of " Gaza roulette."