Israel's defence minister today raised the spectre of an Israeli invasion in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian militants already face a deadly air campaign.
Israeli military commentators say a ground offensive in the densely populated Gaza Strip, home to more than one million people under Palestinian control, would cause heavy Israeli and Palestinian casualties.
"We always have the option of a ground operation in Gaza," Mr Shaul Mofaz said. "We will exercise it when we decide it is right to do so, at the appropriate time."
Israel has killed 13 Palestinians, including 10 militants, in helicopter missiles strikes since a Hamas suicide bomber killed 21 people on an Israeli bus in Jerusalem on August 19th.
Mr Mofaz spoke to reporters hours after a Palestinian gunman shot and wounded an Israeli truck driver at the Jewish settlement of Rafiah Yam in the southern Gaza Strip, the latest violence to batter a US-backed peace "road map".
The shooting, claimed by the militant Islamic group Hamas, followed an Israeli helicopter missile strike yesterday that killed Mr Abdullah Aqel, leader of its armed wing in central Gaza, and another Hamas member.
Palestinian Information Minister Mr Nabil Amr said the attack in the Bureij refugee camp destroyed any chance for the resumption of talks with Israel and called on the United States to intervene and halt the cycle of violence.
"Israel's continuation of such policy means that it is completely turning its back on...calm and the possibility of implementing the road map," Mr Amr said about the plan that envisages creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
In a separate Gaza incident, an eight-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by an Israeli tank shell while riding her bicycle near her home in the city of Khan Younis Palestinian security sources and medics said.
The army said troops opened fire in the area after an explosive device blew up near a patrol, damaging a military vehicle. An army spokesman could not confirm anyone was hit.