Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Thursday blasted business tycoon Arkady Gaydamak for financing a free weekend in Eilat for 800 residents of the rocket-battered western Negev town of Sderot.

"The state of Israel does not allow rich men and philanthropists to gain control from the distress of citizens," said Peretz. "This phenomenon cannot continue. We will prepare an organized and established plan to alleviate these residents so they will not need to knock on the doors of philanthropists."

Peretz ordered the defense establishment and the Sderot municipality on Thursday to evacuate hundreds of children from the city and other towns in the Gaza envelope for a few days' respite in Givat Olga on behalf of the Association for the Welfare of Israeli Soldiers.

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Sderot residents elbowed and shoved their way on to a fleet of buses Thursday, taking advantage of the free weekend away from the shadow of Palestinian rockets, compliments of Gaydamak.

Hundreds of people from the impoverished town, where a woman was killed and a youth gravely injured by rocket-fire the day before, flocked to the town hall and a local community center to sign up for the free ride and hotel accommodation in the Red Sea resort of Eilat.

Known for his generous donations - particularly after paying for temporary accommodation for northerners who fled their homes during the war in Lebanon - the Russian-born billionaire announced earlier on Thursday he would charter some 17 buses and rent some 1,600 rooms in the southern resort city of Eilat for the benefit of Sderot residents.

Local resident Galit Massad said she heard about the Gaydamak offer on Thursday morning and jumped at the opportunity for a break from the constant wail of air raid sirens and ambulances.

"We just packed our stuff and ran away" she said. "It's too dangerous here now, people are dying."

Massad said getting out of town was only a temporary measure, however.

"It's not a solution," she said. "To leave Sderot now for the weekend is a very quick getaway."