Shas Min.: Only complete power cut in Gaza will bring results

Shas Minister Yitzhak Cohen called for a complete power cut in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, saying that "as long as Sderot is burning we must suffocate the infrastructures in Gaza until all those who fire Qassams will put down their weapons in broad daylight."

Cohen said the cutting the electricity and fuel by one percent has the same international ramifications as cutting it by 100 percent, adding that "apparently in Gaza they do not understand warnings. Only a complete power cut will bring results."

The minister without portfolio spoke two days after Israel began reducing the amount of electricity it supplies to the Strip in efforts to pressure Gaza militants to halt the Qassam fire on Israeli towns. The reduction began Thursday in accordance with a plan to gradually reduce more and more electricity while simultaneously assessing both the security and humanitarian situations that result from the cuts.

On Saturday morning, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter toured Sderot, meeting local residents and paying a visit to the family of former defense minister Amir Peretz, whose home was hit by a Qassam rocket on Friday night.

"I found a city where 20 percent of the residents have left. There is a bad atmosphere, especially because nobody knows when this all will end. The residents feel that they are surviving thanks to miracles and luck and await a solution after years of being in a nightmare," Dichter said.

Two weeks ago, Dichter called for a harsher military response to the Qassam fire, saying "that the people of Sderot feel like they are playing Gazan roulette."