Anti-government protests erupted in the battered town and angry words hurled at PM Ehud Olmert when he said there is no easy solution to the Qassam attacks on a midnight visit to Sderot. Two nocturnal Israel air raids hit a metal workshop and an empty Hamas installation. Dep. Defense Minister Moshe Sneh said no Hamas leader will be immune from Israeli attack, including the politicians whom he called “terrorists in suits.”

The IDF Homeland Command has begun circulating directives for emergency situations to dozens of civilian locations around the Gaza Strip, some places as far as north of Ashkelon.

The Israeli cabinet at its Sunday session reached no decisions to deviate from the current counter-measure of surgical air strikes against pinpointed targets, such as missile teams.