Olmert urges calm after strikes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/7237424.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says anger is an understandable response to persistent Palestinian rocket attacks, but that it is not a plan of action.

Mr Olmert was speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting, a day after two brothers were badly hurt by a rocket that hit the town of Sderot.

There have been calls for a wider military operation against rocket squads in Gaza.

But Mr Olmert said: "Anger is not an operational plan."

"We must operate in a methodical and organised fashion, over time," he added.

"That's what we're doing, that's what we'll continue to do. We'll continue to go after all terror operatives, their handlers and their dispatchers."

'Decisive measures'

The town of Sderot is targeted by Palestinian rockets on an almost daily basis.

Sderot comes under attack on an almost daily basis

The two Israeli brothers, aged eight and 19, were injured as a rocket landed yards away from where their family was running to seek shelter after warning sirens rang out to announce the attack, Israeli media reported.

Following the attack, an Israeli government spokesman said Israel would take "resolute and decisive measures" to protect its citizens.

Senior Israeli officials - including members of Mr Olmert's government - have demanded far harsher military and economic action in response to the continuing rocket barrages.

The Israeli interior minister, Meir Sheetrit, said the army should choose a neighbourhood of Gaza, give its residents a day to leave, and then destroy it.