By Prensa Latina,
Tel Aviv : Israel hinted at the possibility to launch a mass offensive against Gaza in the wake of expiry of the truce with Islamic Hamas group and a day after an air attack resulting in one Palestinian killed.
Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said to have “planned several scenes with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to face the situation.”
“The scenes, plans and determination are clear, and we have variants for each step,” said Olmert during a Sunday Cabinet meeting, while warning that “we will take all necessary steps.”
The said discussion took place as Israeli helicopters fired missiles against Gaza areas from where Islamic militants had launched a rocket that destroyed a house in Sderot, Israel, without causing any victim.
Palestinian sources confirmed the launching of a barrage of ten Kassam rockets and mortar shells against southern Israel, one of which caused slight wounds to a Sderot resident, while the Israeli Army claimed to have neutralized a missile launching platform.
Tensions between Israel and the Gaza Strip, controlled since June 2007 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), intensified on December 19, when the six-month truce agreed with Egyptian mediation expired.