Israeli Prime Minister, Ehuld Olmert, said Israel might carry out a ground attack on the Gaza Strip, Israeli media sources reported Sunday.
The sources said that the Israeli PM sent out messages to international mediators, hinting that ‘Israel has no interest in escalating the situation on the ground in Gaza, but it can not ignore continued Qassam homemade shells fire and what he termed ‘attempted infiltration by Palestinian groups into Israeli-controlled territories.
Ghabi Ashkenazi, chief of staff of the Israeli army and chief of interior intelligence service ( Shen Bit) Yuval Diskin, will shortly submit an assessment for the situation in Gaza to the Israeli parliament (Knesset), the sources revealed.
They also pointed out that the Israeli cabinet members will discuss possible increase of transportation of goods through the Israeli commercial crossing of Kerem Shalom, to the south of Gaza Strip, as well as enlargement of air traffic with Egypt and Jordan.
Israeli warning against the Gaza Strip, comes after Israel killed yesterday four Palestinian resistance fighters, an incident Palestinian resistance groups considered a clear-cut indication that the Israeli army is not interested in any ceasefire with the Palestinians.
Things on the ground deteriorated after the Hamas-linked Ezzilidin Alqassam brigades, fired a barrage of homemade shells into nearby Israeli targets, following the Israeli killing of 9 Palestinians last week.
Egyptian security officials, who are based in Gaza, stated last Thursday that Palestinian groups renewed the half-year-old ceasefire, yet no group has yet committed itself to such renewal, unless Israel stops attacking the West Bank, which the Palestinians called for including it to the Gaza ceasefire.
Israel and the Palestinians agreed in November2006 to a ceasefire (truce) after the Israeli army committed a massacre against 19 family members including 8 children and women in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoun.
