Israel ready for 'weeks of action'
Updated on 30 December 2008
Israeli forces continue to bomb the Gaza Strip saying there is no room for ceasefire until the threat of rocket fire from Hamas is removed.
Israel rejects any truce with Hamas until the cross-border rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has ceased, and says it is ready for "long weeks of military action."
Ground forces continue to mass on the border, ready for a possible invasion while airstrikes continue into the fourth day killing 12 Palestinians, bringing the estimated casualties to 348 dead and 800 wounded. The UN says at least 62 of the dead are civilians.
Timeline: a history of violence
Israeli airstrikes began in late December following Hamas rocket launches. Here is a timeline of events leading up to the current fighting.
Read timeline
Hamas has continued to launch rocket strikes into Israel killing three Israeli civilians and one soldier.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly told President Shimon Peres that the Gaza operation was in "the first of several stages".
The UN is calling for an immediate truce, but Israeli Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit says "there is no room for a ceasefire" with Hamas until the threat of rocket fire had been removed.
"The Israeli army must not stop the operation before breaking the will of the Palestinians, of Hamas, to continue to fire at Israel," he said.
The Israeli military "has made preparations for long weeks of action," added Matan Vilnai, a deputy defence minister, in broadcast remarks.
A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, is urging Palestinian groups to respond using "all available means" against Israel, including suicide bombers.
Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction in June 2007. Fighting broke out after the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel broke down last week.
