04/12/2007 Israel vowed to keep targeting resistance fighters in Hamas-run Gaza on Tuesday as it mulled whether to launch a wide-scale offensive against the territory amid revived talks with the Palestinians."For the moment, what's important is to kill all those who want to fire Qassam (rockets) against Israel," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told army radio.
 
Barak has recently authorized the Israeli occupation army to fire on manned Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip, instead of targeting only rocket-launching cells and infrastructure as previously. The attacks have killed some two dozen Palestinians, most of them resistance fighters, in the past 10 days.
 
Barak vowed to continue with the deadly raids and renewed warnings that Israel would eventually launch a wide-scale offensive in the territory where Hamas seized power in mid-June. "The Israeli army will continue the extremely effective operations of its special forces in the Gaza Strip," he said. "Each day that passes brings us closer to a vigorous military operation."
 
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been under increasing pressure to launch a major operation against Gaza. In September Olmert's cabinet declared Gaza a "hostile entity," and a month later began to reduce fuel supplies into the territory. It has also threatened to cut the amount of electricity provided. Last week, Olmert said he would take his time in deciding how to deal with the territory, from where Israel withdrew settlers and troops in 2005 after a 38-year occupation.
 
"The question is not if we have to stop the (rocket) fire, but what kind of strike we should deal," he said in an interview with the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot. "The main thing is to look two steps ahead. To think. Even if thinking requires time, it's better not to act in haste."
 
A wide offensive in Gaza would strain ties between Israel and Abbas as the two sides gingerly embark on revived talks, and could rattle the international and Arab support for the process pledged at the US conference. "There is a problem in launching a military operation against one part of the Palestinians while in talks with another part," one foreign ministry official said.