By Ryan Jones
Sep 12, 2005
Just minutes after the last IDF soldier left Gaza Monday, ?Palestinian? forces operating out of the northern part of the strip fired a Kassam rocket at the nearby Negev town of Sderot.
The attack, which resulted in no injuries, mocked the Sharon government's previous warning that the first rocket to fall following the ?disengagement? would result in a military response of unprecedented severity.
At the time, Israeli commentators ridiculed the threat, noting that Jerusalem had made similar remarks about the dire consequences of terror in the past.
?This time it will be different,? Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz told one television host.
But rather than order a retaliation for Monday's attack, Mofaz chose to simply reiterate the warning.
The IDF from here on out will react to ?Palestinian? terror with ?zero tolerance,? he was quoted as saying after the first rocket fell Monday.
A second was fired at Yad Mordechai a few hours later, but as of this writing there was no sign of any response from the Israeli side.
Earlier, a senior army officer told Israel Radio a sophisticated defense system had been established to protect the residents of the western Negev against future artillery bombardments.
Last week, military sources said that despite spending millions of dollars on the new defenses, the army was still frustrated by the fact nothing could be done to protect against simple homemade rockets outside of giving Israeli civilians a 20-second warning.