Israel deployed a long-anticipated rocket shield outside the Gaza Strip on Sunday but cautioned Israelis under fire from the Hamas-run territory that they would not be completely protected.
-- Project underwritten partly by US defence grants
The positioning of Iron Dome just north of Beersheba, a southern city twice hit by rockets during this month's flare-up of cross-border violence, was described by the military as an "acceleration" of the system's scheduled field evaluations.
Firing radar-guided missiles from a truck-sized launcher, Iron Dome is designed to track and blow up incoming threats in mid-air. Its development was stepped up after the 2006 Lebanon war and defence officials say it has aced several live trials.
But some experts have carped at what they see as needless delays and government protectionism in choosing Iron Dome - produced by a state arms firm and partly underwritten by US defence grants - over ready alternatives available abroad.
"I do not want to create an illusion that the Iron Dome system, which we are deploying for the first time today, will provide a full or comprehensive response," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet in Jerusalem.
"The real response to the missile threat is in the combination of offensive and deterrent measures with defensive measures, and with a firm stance by the government and public."
Netanyahu spoke shortly after Israel killed two members of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian guerrilla group behind much of the recent rocket fire, in a Gaza air strike. Hamas, that controls Gaza and whose forces also took part in the fighting, said on Saturday shooting from the coastal enclave would cease if Israel held fire too.
Brigadier-General Doron Gavish, Israel's air defence chief, said whatever lull ensued was irrelevant to Iron Dome planning.
"We will carry out our evaluations regardless," he told reporters in the arid hillocks against the backdrop of Beersheba's bustling white apartment blocks.
"Regrettably, the way things look now, we will be required to provide our services for a long time hence."
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