Israeli town unveils rocket radar

The people of Sderot say they live in fear of rocket attacks

Israel has unveiled a radar to give an early warning to residents of a southern town targeted by months of Palestinian rocket attacks.

The system is designed to sound an alarm around 20 seconds before a Qassam rocket hits Sderot, which lies just across the border from the Gaza Strip.

Militants have killed four townspeople with the crude, unguided two-metre-long steel weapons filled with explosives.

Sderot is one of the few Israeli communities in range of the rockets.

In June a man and a three-year-old boy died when they were hit as they were walking on a street near a shopping centre.

Another attack on 29 September killed two children when a rocket appeared to have landed on a path between some houses.

Four residents have been killed in rocket attacks

"There is no cause for ceremonies here, but we are confident the system will prove close to 100% effective," Col Peretz Vazan said.

A spokesman for militant group Hamas told Reuters news agency that it would continue to fire rockets at the town.

Retaliation

Qassam technology has been developed by Hamas during the four-year intifada to use against Israeli civilians and retaliate for deadly incursions and assassinations of its activists.

They seldom do much damage, but proved fatal in Sderot and occasionally cause injuries.

Israel has occupied the Gaza Strip since capturing it in the 1967 war.

The Israeli government intends to begin evacuating the 8,000 Jewish settlers and the troops who protect them in Gaza next year as part of a disengagement plan. Israel will maintain control of Gaza's borders, coastline and airspace.