Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Sunday that Israel would be forced to act if Palestinian militants on Gaza continue to fire rockets at Israel, though he hoped to avert a new conflict.
The militant Islamic Hamas last week fired a barrage of homemade rockets at Israel. The salvos caused no injuries but were the first major Hamas attack by since a cease-fire agreement was reached in November. Then on Saturday, Israeli forces killed three Hamas militants planting a bomb on the Gaza-Israeli border.
After consulting with top security officials during the week, Olmert said he decided against a large offensive in Gaza, giving one last chance to preserve the truce.
"We are not interested in an escalation but will by no means refrain from taking the necessary steps to stop those who try to harm Israeli residents," Olmert told reporters at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday.
The army said three more rockets were fired on Saturday, causing no casualties.
The renewed tension in Gaza comes as a government commission prepares to issue its first report about last summer's war in Lebanon. A TV station that received parts of the report said it is highly critical of Olmert and his defense minister, Amir Peretz, for how they made the decision to launch the war, which ended without Israel's goals being achieved and cost both leaders most of their popular support.
At the Sunday Cabinet session, the army chief, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, said Israel's patience over Gaza was wearing thin, but the army favored responding through pinpoint operations rather than massive airstrikes or major ground offensives, according to a participant at the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity according to Cabinet rules.
"If the situation continues, we will ultimately have no choice but to stop this trend, as the prime minister said," he quoted Ashkenazi as telling the ministers.
In Gaza, Col. Burhan Hamad, the head of Egypt's security delegation which negotiated the current truce last November, called on Palestinian factions to respect the cease-fire.
In a statement, Hamad said firing rockets at Israel caused delays in working out an exchange of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier captured last June.
However, military wings, including that of Hamas, which runs the Palestinian government, rejected the Egyptian call.
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