A barrage of 150 rockets or more have rained down on southern Israel over the last six days, requiring the Israeli air force to respond by hitting terrorist launchers in Gaza.

There were 25 rockets fired yesterday at the town of Sderot.

Times of Israel:

Gaza-based terrorists fired 25 rockets into southern Israel on Saturday, causing damage to a school and factory. The latest attacks bring the total number of rockets and other projectiles fired from the Strip to approximately 150 over the past six days.

Israeli security chiefs held a series of emergency consultations on Saturday -- including a meeting of defense chiefs with Defense Minister Ehud Barak -- and decided to try to avoid a further escalation of hostilities. Amid reports from Gaza Saturday night that Hamas was now seeking a ceasefire, security sources said "quiet will be met with quiet, but further rocket fire will be met with further fire [from Israel]." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also involved in the consultations.

The sources said Israel had no interest in a major military response to the upsurge in rocket fire, given the current sensitivities in the region including the tension surrounding Egypt's elections, the ongoing violence in Syria and Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Israel this week.

A senior IDF official also speculated that Hamas wants to stop an escalation of hostilities in Gaza. He said that the group aims to prevent the launching of long-range rockets, despite pressure from other Islamist groups in Gaza to act otherwise. He summed up the nature of the ceasefire terms as "Quiet met by quiet, and fire met by fire."

As of Saturday night, plans were for schools in the South to open as usual Sunday, provided there was no further escalation.

Just another week for residents in range of rockets fired by terrorists. Of course, there has been criticism of Israel for responding with bombings. After all, these are pinpricks - Hamas is just sending a message, they can't really hurt anyone - except the poor unlucky Israeli who gets caught in the open when a rocket lands nearby.

Israel is expected to allow these attacks on their territory to continue without response. And if they respond, they are somehow the aggressors. It's a topsy turvey world in the Middle East where terrorists trying to kill civilians are freedom fighters and a nation trying to defend it's people are war criminals.