SDEROT, Israel:

Joe the Plumber has set aside his wrenches to become a rookie war correspondent, covering Israel's side of its two-week-old military offensive in Gaza.

The Ohio man, who rocketed to fame during the United States presidential campaign for challenging Barack Obama on his tax plan, was in the southern Israeli town of Sderot yesterday to tell readers of the conservative pjtv.com website about the rockets that rain down there from the neighbouring Gaza Strip.

The people of Sderot "can't do normal things day to day," like get soap in their eyes in the shower, for fear a rocket might come in, said Joe the Plumber, so dubbed by Republican Senator John McCain's campaign, but whose real name is Samuel Wurzelbacher.

"I'm sure they're taking quick showers," he said. "I know I would."

Thousands of questions

Joe's rookie reporter status was evident when, standing in front of a pile of spent rockets, he said: "I have thousands of questions but I can't think of the right one."

What he could summon up quickly was contempt for Israel's critics, who are outraged by the more than 870 Palestinians killed in Israel's bruising air and ground onslaught against Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers. Thirteen Israelis have also died since the operation began, including four killed by the rocket fire that touched off the war in the first place.

"Why hasn't Israel acted sooner?" Wurzelbacher asked. "I know if I were a citizen here, I'd be damned upset." He described himself as a 'peace-loving man', but added, "when someone hits me, I'm going to unload on the boy. And if the rest of the world doesn't understand that, then I'm sorry."