Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised here on Monday to protect Israeli communities targeted by Palestinian rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.
“Our forces have been authorised to act to change the situation so that the inhabitants of Sderot and other Israeli towns targeted by Palestinian rockets can live in security,” he said during a visit to Germany.
“It will not happen in a single day. It will need time, but I believe it is possible,” he said. Olmert was speaking at Berlin’s Jewish Museum on the first day of a visit to Germany that will see him hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and other officials likely to touch on the rocket attacks.
Militants in the Gaza Strip fire dozens of rockets daily into Israel, causing little damage and few casualties. Israeli responses, ranging from military incursions and air strikes to cutting off power and supplies to the residents of the enclave controlled by Hamas have so far failed to stop the barrage.
On Sunday, Olmert ruled out launching a widespread ground offensive in Gaza but warned that no one from Hamas was immune to Israeli strikes in the isolated coastal territory. In Berlin, he told reporters that his discussions in Germany will be “important for the security of Israel.”
Olmert said the meetings will also focus on Iran’s contested nuclear programme, which is seen by Israel and the West as a smokescreen for making nuclear arms. The prime minister was to hold one-on-one talks with Merkel on Monday night in a baroque castle at Meseberg outside Berlin.