Israelis watch, hoping for change, as Gaza burns

Schools and malls remained closed and many streets were eerily empty as Israeli police stood ready to usher errant pedestrians to the nearest bomb shelter should sirens sound.

Yet with their army finally fighting Hamas face-to-face in the Gaza Strip, many residents of southern Israel hoped today for a return to normality -- or at least, a long reprieve from Palestinian cross-border rocket attacks.

"We've been in the situation for eight years, and it's enough," said David, a resident of the coastal city of Ashkelon, as he perched over a newspaper at a largely deserted cafe.

"Now is the time to act."

Israeli leaders have cautioned that the escalating offensive on Gaza, which has killed more than 500 Palestinians, will not stop the rocket salvoes outright.

They talk, instead, of punishing Islamist Hamas to make it stop firing rockets and to establish deterrence so the group thinks twice about fighting the Jewish state again.

The logic of overwhelming force resonates among those Israelis who long accused their government, which was bruised by the 2006 Lebanon conflict, of being unwilling to hit Hamas hard.

"It's war," said store owner Roger Hacham. He blamed Hamas, which cemented its control of Gaza after Israel withdrew from the coastal enclave in 2005, for the surge in hostilities.

"In the past there were good times," he said. "We were good neighbours. They (Palestinians) used to work here, and then Hamas came along and changed all the rules. We never believed the Qassam (rockets) would reach Ashkelon."

But there was no such disbelief sounded in Nitsan, a border community set up to house some of the 8,500 Jewish settlers evacuated from Gaza. There, residents spoke of feeling bitter and vindicated after warning that Israel's unilateral exit would boost the standing of Hamas and other Palestinian hardliners.

"We told the world, we told everybody. Nobody wanted to listen so it's not a surprise to us," said Karen Tzafati as she hung laundry in apparent defiance of the rocket threat.

At least 25 of the mostly improvised missiles hit Israel by midday, causing no serious damage. Authorities were urging those living within 40 km of Gaza to stay indoors.

Four Israelis have been killed, and 25 wounded, by the salvoes during the last eight days of fighting. Still, there were those who insisted on going out to relish the relative quiet after days when scores of rockets fells on their towns.

One rubbish collector from the border town of Sderot said he went to work overjoyed to hear far more Israeli bombs falling in Gaza than incoming rockets.

"Until today, we always had to hide," he told Israel Radio, without giving his name. "Now I hear the music of us shooting in the other direction. To my ears, it's like the sound of an oud and drums. And our side knows how to play very well."

But with reports mounting of Israeli military casualties in Gaza, such gloating may prove to be short-lived.

Limited in its reporting by censorship regulations, Israel's Army Radio aired chats with southerners who have children in uniform and taking part in the assault.

One woman from Kibbutz Beeri, Maddy, said her time was spent listening for sirens and awaiting word about her infantryman son, Daniel. "Last night, I found it impossible to sleep. We don't need to watch television. We're living this live," she said.