al-Manar reports:

Israeli Army Gets Green Light for Gaza Operation

The Israeli defense establishment is currently preparing for a military move against Hamas targets in Gaza after it received the green light Wednesday from the Israeli Cabinet.

During a cabinet meeting about the situation in and outside the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli occupation army officer gave ministers in attendance an overview of the potential retaliatory moves that the defense establishment is planning against Hamas’ regime. A media blackout was declared on the deliberations.

By late morning Wednesday, the Magen David Adom rescue service declared its highest level of alert.

An Israeli official told Israeli daily Haaretz that Israel’s response will go beyond the air raid, “Our response will be substantial and painful to Hamas,” the official said.

Most strikes will come from the air and be aimed at facilities believed to be of strategic importance to Hamas’ political and military leadership. However, the officer said that weather conditions are currently preventing the air force from launching the raids.

According to officials in Tel Aviv, the overview also included a special reference to the possible implications of attacking Hamas.

“We are not eager to strike, but we will not hesitate to act,” one official said. “If Hamas is looking for noise, we will make Gaza very noisy.”

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government claimed it had shown restraint until now but vowed to act if the salvoes continued.

The same official said that Israel would be willing to extend the June cease-fire, which expired last week, if Hamas would agree to resume it.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is expected to arrive on Thursday in Cairo for a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whose administration helped facilitate the cease-fire. Sources close to Livni said she intended to tell Mubarak that Israel will not accept Hamas’ current terms for a ceasefire. Hamas’ statements also contained a similar mix of threats and assurances.

Meir Yifrach, head of Sdot Negev Regional Council, said that the current situation was intolerable and that “the people of the southern region of Israel are demanding that the government order the army to act in Gaza so that civilian life may be allowed to return to normal.”

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday night that he had ordered the Israeli army to prepare itself to deliver a “response” to the rocket attacks fired by the Islamic resistance groups in Gaza. He said Hamas was responsible and would pay a price.

“Anyone who hurts Israeli civilians or soldiers will pay the price in a big way,” Barak said in an interview on a Channel 2 talk show. “We will bring the solution, and we will not let this situation continue.”

Israeli defense officials said the army now had approval for a number of operations that would likely include heavy air strikes against Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets, as well as pinpoint ground operations against resistance infrastructure.

The ambiguity about the timing of an army operation was in line with what Olmert told the security cabinet on Sunday – that Israel would not give Hamas a “promo” of when and how it would respond.

However, hints that Israel’s response was well on the way could be found in a statement a government official released after the four-hour security cabinet meeting.

“Hamas bears sole responsibility for the deterioration in the South. They deliberately undermined the understandings reached through Egypt, and they acted to destroy the calm,” the official said, in what sounded like an explanation to the world of why Israel needed to act.

Meanhile, the Palestinian resistance factions said that more than 70 mortar shells and Katyusha and Kassam rockets pounded the Negev. The barrage hit communities throughout the South, reaching as far north as Ashkelon and as far south as Kerem Shalom. At least two Grad-model Katyusha rockets were fired into Ashkelon on Wednesday, and a Kassam with extended range hit Netivot. Nearly 60 settlers were treated for emotional trauma and anxiety.

“Hamas will hit not only Sderot, but also what lies beyond Sderot,” Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri said, in a possible reference to extended ballistic capabilities.

Other spokespeople said the organization will agree to “resume” the ceasefire, if the organization’s conditions are met. Hamas is demanding an improved ceasefire agreement that also includes the West Bank.

In a statement by Hamas’ military wing, Iz al-Din al-Qassam, a spokesperson warned that “thousands of additional Israelis will soon be within the range of our rockets if Israel continues with its aggression.”

“The residents of the south will stay in the bomb shelters for a long time,” the Hamas statement continued, adding that “threats of an [Israeli] military offensive don’t scare us because we are more prepared than ever.”

All Israeli towns within a 30-kilometer radius of the Gaza Strip were hooked up on Wednesday to an early warning system designed to deliver rocket launch alerts. Among the newly-connected towns and cities are Ofakim and Netivot.

Ashdod, with its center just outside the 30-kilometer mark, is expected to be connected to the system within the next 24 hours. Some towns are already connected to the “Color Red” system, which alerts residents living within a seven-kilometer radius of the Strip.