JERUSALEM, May 20 (UPI) -- Israel's defense minister declared a state of emergency Sunday in Sderot, which has been under near constant rocket attack from Gaza.
Minister Amir Peretz's declaration came as a new barrage of five Qassam rockets stuck Sderot Sunday morning. No one was reported killed or seriously injured, though some residents were hospitalized in shock.
Sderot residents called the emergency declaration too little, too late, the Jerusalem Post reported.
"Only after dozens of Qassam rockets and thousands of residents have left Sderot, the government only now understands that there is a state of emergency in Sderot," said Alon Davidi, a Sderot resident.
The declaration gives civilian authority to Israel's Home Front Command to close factories and schools and order medical clinics, the Post said. Peretz declared a similar state of emergency in northern Israel following Hezbollah rocket attacks last summer during Israel's war on Lebanon.
About 4,000 of Sderot's 23,000 residents have left the city for temporary "relief" shelters in safer parts of Israel, the Post reported.
