The IDF promised a swift and harsh response Wednesday to a barrage of 13 Kassam rockets that pounded the western Negev throughout the day, leaving one person dead and two others seriously wounded in the southern town of Sderot. In an early morning attack, Fatima Slutsker, 57, was killed and a security guard at the residence of Defense Minister Amir Peretz was seriously wounded after a Kassam rocket, fired by Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip, landed near the Labor Party chairman's home in Sderot. The two were taken to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, where Slutsker died of her wounds and the security guard, Maor Peretz, 24, had both of his legs amputated after sustaining severe shrapnel wounds. In the evening, another barrage of Kassam rockets struck Sderot, wounding four, including one 17-year-old seriously. Four other rockets struck a neighborhood in the southern part of Ashkelon.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz threatened the Palestinians with a massive, widespread ground operation in the Gaza Strip to stop the Kassam rocket attacks and curb the buildup of Hamas forces in the Palestinian territory.
| Keep threatening, Dan. Eventually you'll turn blue in the face. |