Israel yesterday threatened widescale military action against the Gaza Strip after launching a string of air strikes in response to rocket fire from the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave.

However, the United States urged restraint on both sides, saying there was no military solution to the conflict. Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom warned of a new offensive on the coastal territory unless militant rocket attacks ceased.

"If this rocket fire against Israel does not stop, it seems we will have to raise the level of our activity and step up our actions against Hamas," Mr Shalom told public radio.

"We won't allow frightened children to again be raised in bomb shelters and so, in the end, it will force us to launch another military operation. I hope we can avoid it, but it is one of the options we have, and if we don't have a choice, we will use it in the near future," he said.

Three Palestinian children - aged two, four and 11 - were hit by flying glass in one of six overnight raids, said Moawiya Hassanein, head of the Palestinian emergency services in Gaza.

There were no other reports of casualties.

The head of the Islamist Hamas movement's government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, blamed the Jewish state for the increase in tensions.

"We call on the international community to intervene to stop this escalation and Israeli aggression," he said in a statement.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters Israel has a right to self-defence. "At the same, as we've said many times, we don't ultimately think there is a military solution to this," he said.

"Our message remains to the Israelis and Palestinians that we need to get the proximity talks going, focus on the substance, move to direct negotiations and ultimately arrive at a settlement that ends the conflict once and for all."

Britain and France also expressed concern at the escalation, calling for restraint and the launch of US-backed indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.