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Israel Vows 'Strong' Reply to Hamas Rockets

Six more Qassams hit following announcement

By Drew Nelles, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 1, 2009 5:54 PM CST

(Newser) – Ongoing rocket attacks on southern Israel will elicit "a serious, painful, strong and uncompromising" response, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today. At least eight rockets from the Gaza Strip struck the western Negev desert Friday and Saturday, with no casualties or injuries, the Jerusalem Post reports. Six more Qassam missiles hit Israel following Olmert’s threat, reports Haaretz.

"Terrorists, led by Hamas, are trying to recuperate from the hard blow of Operation Cast Lead, and are doing this in the only way they know how to—through terror,” Olmert said at today’s weekly cabinet meeting. Public Security Minster Avi Dichter added that he had "no doubt" Israel would invade Gaza again. "Whoever thinks Hamas can be smashed with one blow is mistaken."

[Images (5)]

[Quotes (1)]

An Israeli police officer examines the damage to the classroom of a school after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza hit the coastal city of Ashkelon, Saturday Feb. 28, 2009. (AP Photo /Tsafrir Abayov)

Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, right, speaks as Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni looks on at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Yoav Lemmer, Pool)

An Israeli policeman pulls a rocket out of the ground after it was fired by militants from the Gaza Strip towards the southern Israeli town of Sderot, Monday Feb. 23, 2009. (AP Photo /Tsafrir Abayov)

Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, right, talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Yoav Lemmer, Pool)

A Palestinian man searches through rubble in an area destroyed in Israel's latest incursion into Gaza, in Jebaliya. Olmert swore to respond to rocket fire from Gaza in an "uncompromising way." (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

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Israel has a wide range of options which can be used and these options will be utilized until total quiet is brought to the South. - Ehud Olmert

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Israel Vows 'Strong' Reply to Hamas Rockets