Netanyahu to Cameron: Abbas must condemn random rocket fire on Israel

JERUSALEM, March 13 (UPI) -- Israeli leaders Thursday urged Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas to condemn random rocket fire on Israel and warned of a similar action on Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron in Jerusalem, while visiting drug manufacturer Teva, that while the Israeli drug company's plant in Ashdod was manufacturing medicine sent to Gaza, "they are firing rockets from there on innocent Israelis" but Abbas hasn't condemned the firings, the Jerusalem Post reported.

"You are going to visit President Abbas shortly," Netanyahu told Cameron. "He has not condemned the firing of rockets on our citizens. How can you not condemn the firing of rockets on innocent civilians? He did, however, condemn Israel for responding and shooting three terrorists who fired mortars at us. That he did condemn."

Israeli President Shimon Peres reiterated Israel's warning that its military would respond with force to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, the Post said.

Israel will not allow its citizens to be fired upon "under any circumstances," Peres said after a renewal of rocket and missile fire by Palestinian terrorists Thursday following an attack Wednesday night in which more than 40 rockets were launched at southern Israel.

"Hamas leadership says it's responsible for the Gaza Strip, therefore it is also responsible for everything that happens in Gaza," Peres said. "Hamas should decide how it wants to live -- for every shot they'll receive a shot, for every ceasefire they will receive a ceasefire."

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said after a security meeting Thursday the Israeli military's response to Wednesday's rocket fire "was the strongest since Operation Pillar of Defense, and the price paid by terror organizations in [Gaza] was heavy."