Mayor of battered Israeli town resigns after another rocket barrage

The mayor of the small town in southern Israel that has borne the brunt of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip announced Wednesday that he's stepping down, saying the situation there is "impossible" and charging the central government with inaction.

Eli Moyal said he hoped his resignation will spur authorities into action against the Islamic Hamas militants who overran Gaza six months ago.

Moyal is mayor of Sderot, a working-class town of 22,000 that has been battered by more than 4,500 crude Qassam rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, just a mile away, since 2001. The unguided projectiles have killed seven residents, injured dozens more, and sowed panic on the town's streets and in its schools.

Real estate prices have dropped 60 percent, commerce has collapsed and many residents have fled for fear of the rockets.

On Wednesday, Palestinian militants fired another 17 rockets toward Israel, slightly wounding one woman and causing minor property damage. The barrage followed a broad Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that left six militants dead.

Wednesday's rockets sparked Moyal's dramatic live announcement on Israel Radio. He said the responsibility for the lives of his residents has become too much to bear and urged the government to strike hard against Gaza militants.

"The situation in Sderot is impossible. Today what is going on here is on display to everyone ," he said. "I am resigning immediately as the mayor of Sderot. Maybe this will spark the government to launch an operation for the lives of its residents. I can't keep making the decisions. They can't keep piling it all on me."

Abu Mujahid, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committee, a small, militant group closely allied with Hamas, took credit for Moyal's announcement.

"This resignation is a victory for the resistance," he said. "This resignation will be followed by other mayors and other officials in the near future."

Israel has been mulling a large-scale military operation in Gaza for months but has made do with limited incursions and air strikes. Officials apparently fear disrupting fledgling peace talks with Hamas' moderate rivals now in charge of the West Bank. Indeed, Palestinians meeting Israelis on Wednesday for the first formal peace talks in seven years protested the latest Israeli incursion.

Responding to growing criticism that it hasn't done enough to defend Sderot, the government has pledged to better fortify the town's homes, schools and public buildings.

Moyal said that was not enough and only harsh military action against those launching rockets would ultimately protect Sderot.

"Maybe my resignation will do something," he said. "I hope that my small personal sacrifice will push the government to take some decisions that will help Sderot."

Hamas overran Gaza in June, vanquishing forces loyal to moderate President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah. Hamas, which favors Israel's destruction and has sent dozens of suicide bombers into the Jewish state, has made no effort to stop the rocket barrages, instead joining in with its own rocket squads.

In September, Moyal stepped down for a month while being questioned over suspected financial irregularities at Sderot's municipality.