Photo Credit: Gershon Elinson / Flash 90
Mayor of the southern Israeli town of Sderot, Alon Davidi (R), and head of Gush Etzion Regional Council Davidi Perl pose with an Israeli soldier patrolling in Gush Etzion. (December 20, 2015)

Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi called Sunday morning for a wide-scale military operation to eradicate Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization.

Speaking in an interview with Israel’s Galei Tzahal Army Radio, Davidi said “We need to go on a wide-scale operation right now to eradicate Hamas, without waiting for other timings. Only force can stop them.

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“The most important thing is to prepare the military, and at the right time deal Hamas the biggest blow,” he said. “The culture of this organization is one of bringing death to the region.”

A barrage of three rockets launched at the Shaare HaNegev Regional Council district on Saturday night left a trail of shrapnel across the area that destroyed the rooftops of multiple homes and other buildings, including a kindergarten, when two of the projectiles – heading for populated areas — were blown out of the sky by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system.

Shrapnel from a third rocket landed directly in the yard of a home in Sderot, causing damage to the home and sending its 76-year-old female resident to the hospital in severe anxiety and shock. Two other people were treated for minor injuries sustained while racing for bomb shelters, and three were treated in the region for anxiety and trauma.

READ: Containment Policy ‘Has Failed Miserably’ Says Shaar HaNegev District Leader

Davidi noted in an interview with Israel’s Channel 13 television news that Saturday night’s attack was the second in as many days, and said enough is enough.

“We have gone through an unpleasant weekend with red alerts two days in a row,” he said.

“Sderot residents are, on one hand, trying to keep to their normal routines. But on the other hand there’s no choice in our current situation but to go to a ground operation in the Gaza Strip.”


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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.