Israel decided on Wednesday to resume attacks against Palestinian gunners who fire rockets from the Gaza Strip but insisted it remained committed to a month-old truce.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said: "A directive has been given to the defence establishment to take pinpoint action against rocket-launching squads."
"Israel will continue to maintain the ceasefire and work with the Palestinian Authority so that immediate steps are taken to halt the Qassam firings," Olmert's office said in the statement after he held consultations with security chiefs.
Abu Ahmed, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, said Israel's decision to target rocket squads "will not stop us from continuing our resistance". According to Reuters, he said the truce should be extended to the West Bank "otherwise residents of Ashkelon and Sderot", two southern cities that have hit by rockets from Gaza, "will never feel secure".
Two Israeli boys, both 14, were wounded on Tuesday night when a Qassam rocket landed in the street near where they were walking. According to Haaretz, a total of eight rockets were fired at Israel Tuesday, the most in a single day since the cease-fire was declared a month ago.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz and senior Israeli officials have been urging Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to approve militay action in the Gaza Strip. Peretz called Olmert Tuesday night and urged him to reverse the policy. "We cannot continue to restrain ourselves," Peretz told Olmert. "We cannot let Jihad continue to do what it wants; we must take immediate action against the Qassams."
The militay wing of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for firing the missiles from the Gaza Strip.
The incident came hours after Israeli troops stationed to the north of the Gaza Strip shot and wounded a Palestinian farmer who was working in his fields in the area. Locals said that Ismail Ghaban, 27, was hit with bullets in his knee and thigh and was rushed to hospital. Israel has killed 15 Palestinians since the ceasefire began, all but one in the West Bank.
