Gaza rocket prompts warning from Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today warned 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 ceasefire agreement was reached in November.

Then yesterday, 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 said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting today.

The army said three more rockets were fired yesterday, 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 today's Cabinet session, the army chief, Lt Gen Gabi Ashkenazi, said Israel's patience over Gaza was wearing thin, but the army favoured responding through pinpoint operations rather than massive airstrikes or major ground offensives, according to a participant at the meeting.

"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 ceasefire.

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.

Ashkenazi said that since the November ceasefire, there have been more than 250 incidents of fire on Israel from Gaza, including mortar shells and homemade rockets, in addition to daily attempts to infiltrate and plant bombs.

He said last week's Hamas rocket attack, on Israel's Independence Day, included some 35 mortars and six or seven rockets and a failed attempt to kidnap an Israeli soldier. At the time the army said only a handful of the projectiles actually reached Israel, exploding harmlessly.

Ashkenazi told the ministers that infiltration and rocket fire existed long before the ceasefire and could not be stopped all at once. He cited yesterday's operation, in which the army crossed into Gaza and killed three militants attempting to launch an attack, as an example of what could be done.

The Cabinet was also briefed by the deputy chief of the Shin Bet security agency, who warned of growing anarchy in the Gaza Strip.

He said Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was interested in keeping the calm in Gaza and even expanding it to the West Bank, but that he was a weak leader and the real shots were being called by Hamas' more militant leadership, based in Damascus.

Olmert said Israel had to think long and hard before being drawn back into Gaza, but insisted it would not stand silent in the face of daily attacks.

"We are doing what we have to do, including operating beyond the fence," he said. "Where there is a chance to thwart attacks, we will thwart."