Post by warriorwitch on Apr 25, 2007 13:24:55 GMT
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday considered military options in the Gaza Strip after Hamas's armed wing fired rockets into Israel and declared a ceasefire dead.
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Political sources cited a resumption of "targeted killings" of top Palestinian militants in Gaza as a course of action Olmert seemed likely to choose in consultations he convened with security chiefs.
Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades fired eight rockets at Israel from Gaza on Tuesday in what the group termed retaliation for Israel's killing of nine Palestinians in recent raids against militants in the occupied West Bank.
Two of the rockets landed in southern Israel on its 59th Independence Day, the military said, causing minor damage but no casualties. It was the first such attack since Hamas and Israeli leaders agreed to a Gaza ceasefire last November.
The Israeli military recently completed a training programme to ready ground forces for a land offensive against militants in the territory should the government give the green light, Israeli security sources said.
But one political source said Olmert, his popularity flagging since last year's inconclusive Lebanon war, was not leaning towards a massive assault at this time.
An official inquiry into the 34-day conflict with Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas and the military's preparedness for war in the north is due to release its interim findings next week.
"A wider operation (in Gaza) will be carried out only when it is clear that the benefit is greater than the damage that will result," Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh told Army Radio.
In Gaza, a Palestinian official said an Egyptian security team held separate meetings with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group and stressed the need to restore calm to avoid giving Israel a pretext to mount a ground offensive.
CEASEFIRE
Abu Abaida, a spokesman for the Qassam brigades, said after Tuesday's rocket attacks: "There is no calm between us and the (Israeli) occupation. The occupation ended the calm."
The Hamas-led Palestinian government, however, said it was interested in maintaining the Gaza ceasefire.
The truce does not cover the West Bank, where the Israeli military mounts frequent raids against militant groups it says are constantly planning attacks inside Israel.
"If the occupation (Israel) ... stops all assassinations, violence, arrests and raids against our people, Hamas will consider an enduring calm in liaison with other factions, as a collective position," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.
Barhoum said a final decision could be made after the factions hold another meeting, later in the day, with the Egyptian delegation.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose secular Fatah faction formed a governing coalition with Hamas last month, called the rocket strikes "an exceptional event that will not last".
Speaking at a news conference in Rome on Tuesday, Abbas urged Israel to show "self-control" and head off escalation.
(Advertisement)
Political sources cited a resumption of "targeted killings" of top Palestinian militants in Gaza as a course of action Olmert seemed likely to choose in consultations he convened with security chiefs.
Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades fired eight rockets at Israel from Gaza on Tuesday in what the group termed retaliation for Israel's killing of nine Palestinians in recent raids against militants in the occupied West Bank.
Two of the rockets landed in southern Israel on its 59th Independence Day, the military said, causing minor damage but no casualties. It was the first such attack since Hamas and Israeli leaders agreed to a Gaza ceasefire last November.
The Israeli military recently completed a training programme to ready ground forces for a land offensive against militants in the territory should the government give the green light, Israeli security sources said.
But one political source said Olmert, his popularity flagging since last year's inconclusive Lebanon war, was not leaning towards a massive assault at this time.
An official inquiry into the 34-day conflict with Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas and the military's preparedness for war in the north is due to release its interim findings next week.
"A wider operation (in Gaza) will be carried out only when it is clear that the benefit is greater than the damage that will result," Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh told Army Radio.
In Gaza, a Palestinian official said an Egyptian security team held separate meetings with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group and stressed the need to restore calm to avoid giving Israel a pretext to mount a ground offensive.
CEASEFIRE
Abu Abaida, a spokesman for the Qassam brigades, said after Tuesday's rocket attacks: "There is no calm between us and the (Israeli) occupation. The occupation ended the calm."
The Hamas-led Palestinian government, however, said it was interested in maintaining the Gaza ceasefire.
The truce does not cover the West Bank, where the Israeli military mounts frequent raids against militant groups it says are constantly planning attacks inside Israel.
"If the occupation (Israel) ... stops all assassinations, violence, arrests and raids against our people, Hamas will consider an enduring calm in liaison with other factions, as a collective position," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.
Barhoum said a final decision could be made after the factions hold another meeting, later in the day, with the Egyptian delegation.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose secular Fatah faction formed a governing coalition with Hamas last month, called the rocket strikes "an exceptional event that will not last".
Speaking at a news conference in Rome on Tuesday, Abbas urged Israel to show "self-control" and head off escalation.
