Israel said yesterday it would resume attacks against Palestinian militants who fire rockets from the Gaza Strip but insisted it remained committed to a month-old ceasefire in the territory.
In a statement that appeared to rule out a major military offensive in Gaza, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said: "A directive has been given to the defence establishment to take pinpoint action against rocket-launching squads."
The governing Palestinian Hamas movement said "there is a risk the calm will be blown away by the wind" if Israel resumes what the Islamic militant group termed assassinations.
"There has been almost complete (Israeli) restraint," Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh said on Israel Radio. "We have changed this policy."
Mr Olmert has come under growing public criticism for failing to retaliate for more than 60 such attacks from the Gaza Strip since the November 26 truce.
But under international pressure to keep the ceasefire alive, and ahead of a January 4 meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Mr Olmert had not been expected by Israeli political commentators to order widescale military action that might weaken Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, speaking after talks with Mr Olmert in Jerusalem, said the summit between the Israeli leader and Mr Mubarak in Egypt next Thursday would be aimed at fostering a "viable peace process" and building Israeli-Palestinian trust.
Israel is keen to bolster the moderate Abbas who has called for early Palestinian elections to try to end a power struggle between his Fatah movement and the governing Hamas group. Just hours after the Israeli announcement, Islamic Jihad fired a rocket into southern Israel, causing no casualties.
Militants behind rocket strikes say they are retaliating for Israel's continued pursuit of wanted Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where a ceasefire is not in effect.
Israel has killed 15 Palestinians since the Gaza truce began, all but one in the West Bank. About half were gunmen. Two Israelis, both aged 14, were seriously wounded by a Qassam rocket on Tuesday.
"Israel will continue to maintain the ceasefire and work with the Palestinian Authority so that immediate steps are taken to halt the Qassam firings," Mr Olmert's office said in the statement after he held consultations with security chiefs.
Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led government, also voiced support for the truce.