Israel was weighing its response yesterday a day after Hamas militants fired their first barrage of rockets into the Jewish state for five months and declared an end to a November truce.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert convened emergency talks with defense officials at his Jerusalem office to discuss Israel's reaction to an attack that caused no casualties or damage amid growing calls for tough military action.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz and the army's top brass were attending the talks "to discuss Israel's reaction to the Hamas attack," a senior Israeli official said.
"We feel today free to do things that we avoided doing several months ago. Anyone who wants to try us will get what he deserves," Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said.
"We are not interested in escalation," he said. "We want to do whatever is necessary to lower the level of terror."
Israel has declared several times in recent months that it would not allow Hamas and other armed factions to strengthen in the Gaza Strip, as intelligence sources warned that militants were using the calm to stockpile arms.
Parallel talks were also scheduled to take place between Egyptian officials and Palestinian armed factions in a bid to shore up the five-month truce that saw Israeli troops leave Gaza and militants vow to hold rocket fire.
An Egyptian security delegation, which is based permanently in the Gaza Strip and headed by General Bourhan Hamad, was scheduled to meet representatives of all the Palestinian factions.
Egyptian and Palestinian officials said the ultra-radical Islamic Jihad, which refused to abide by the Nov. 26 truce with Israel and has claimed the bulk of recent anti-Israeli attacks, was also taking part in the meetings.
On Tuesday, the armed wing of Hamas, whose political branch is the senior partner in the Palestinian government, claimed it fired nearly 100 projectiles into Israel as the country marked its 59th Independence Day.
The Islamic group said it was abandoning the truce following Israeli raids that killed nine Palestinians over the weekend.
The Palestinian government later emphasized that it was standing by the ceasefire.
Although Hamas' Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said it fired nearly 30 rockets and 61 mortar rounds, the Israeli army identified only two rocket and eight mortar shell impacts, none of which caused any damage.
Tuesday marked the first time Hamas claimed responsibility for rocket attacks since the truce took effect.
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