Israel town steps up protests over rocket attacks

SDEROT, Israel, June 20 (Reuters) Residents of an Israeli town under rocket fire from Palestinian militants in Gaza blocked roads and staged protests today, stepping up demands on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for a tougher response.

Israeli officials including Defence Minister Amir Peretz, who lives in the southern town of Sderot, have issued increasingly sharper warnings to the Hamas-led government over the firing of the homemade rockets.

''This is not a life. I am very scared to get up at night and go to the bathroom ... I hardly sleep,'' said Zoharit Itiel, a young girl protesting at one intersection.

''We will be leaving Sderot at the end of the month.'' On one street, protesters held up placards that read: ''Is the Israeli government waiting for blood?'' and ''Olmert -- Wake up.

Sderot is at war.'' Sderot officials said they hoped to block all roads leading into the town. They also plan to cut the town's power after nightfall as a show of protest.

Militants have fired around 130 makeshift rockets at Israel in the past 10 days, the army said. Many have landed in and around Sderot, a working class town on the edge of Gaza.

The Gaza rockets have not killed any Israelis in a year but the recent launchings wounded several and caused some damage.

The Israeli army has suspended artillery fire against rocket launching squads since June 9, when a blast on a Gaza beach killed seven members of one Palestinian family.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group that took office in March after its January election victory, blamed Israeli shelling for the deaths and scrapped a 16-month truce in response and joined other factions in firing rockets.

Israel has said an investigation showed it was not responsible for the deaths.

ISRAELI WARNING But Peretz and other officials have hinted the suspension of artillery fire might not last much longer and that senior officials in the Hamas government could be targeted.

''I will no longer differentiate between factions. Either you make sure that everybody halts the fire or all of you will be responsible and every one of you can pay the price, even personally,'' Peretz said yesterday.

The surge in rocket attacks have been seized upon by right-wing opponents of Olmert's unilateral plan to withdraw Jewish settlers from parts of the occupied West Bank.

They argue that vacating heavily defended settlements would allow militants to get closer to the so-called ''Green Line'' boundary that separated Israel and the West Bank before the 1967 West Asia war and target other towns and cities.

Israel's government had said a pullout of settlers and soldiers from Gaza last year would bring a respite from rocket attacks.

Polls show the Gaza rocket fire has eroded support for Olmert's West Bank ''realignment'' plan, which revolves around imposing final borders with the Palestinians if peace talks remain frozen.

REUTERS KD KN1710