Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian gunmen and a police officer and kept up missile strikes against militant targets in the northern Gaza Strip today, residents and medical officials said.
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert
Prime minister Ehud Olmert said Israel's assault on rocket-launching squads and gunmen would not be open-ended but declined to say when it would finish. He appeared to acknowledge the rocket threat could not be wiped out by the operation.
Several homemade missiles hit the Israeli border town of Sderot, the Zaka rescue service said. There were no reports of casualties although several people were treated for shock.
Israeli forces have killed at least 48 people, of whom more than half were gunmen, in the five-day operation in northern Gaza, Palestinian medical officials have said.
An Israeli sniper shot dead a12-year-old Palestinian girl yesterday and six others, including four militants, were killed in air strikes and clashes, Palestinian sources said.
"We have no intention of conquering Gaza," Mr Olmert said at the start of a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
"We have declared that we will never accept the ongoing (rocket) fire and that we would take any steps needed to considerably reduce the fire and prevent terror activity."
The operation, mainly focused on the town of Beit Hanoun, is one of the biggest since Israel's army and Jewish settlers were pulled out of Gaza last year after 38 years of occupation.
It is part of a wider offensive launched in late June after militants, including members of the governing Hamas movement, abducted an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid from Gaza.
Israeli analysts expect Mr Olmert will end the Beit Hanoun operation before he heads to Washington for talks with President George W Bush, scheduled for November 13th, although a spokesman for the foreign ministry said the two issues weren't linked.
The United States has said Israel has the right to defend itself against rocket attacks.